If anyone had thought that after Erik Stark had won his second UIM F2 World Championship title last year and listened to the pit lane talk that said he’d be off to join the F1H2O series and that his motivation might be lacking because his great friend and mentor Rolland Sjogren was taking a year out of the sport soon found out that the young Swede still means business when he won the opening round of the 2013 UIM F2 World Championship.
Throughout the day all eyes had been on the weather forecasts as the organisers of the Motorlotteriet Swedish Grand Prix waited for the strong gusting breeze to finally relent. Hour after hour the start was put back till eventually twenty one drivers lined up on the grid at the Riddarfjarden in the centre of Stockholm. Missing from the grid was the Pole Adrain Maniewsky whose Rostyle hull had sustained damaged after it had collided with Winand De Jager during qualifying. Also out was Manuel Saueressig after his engine failed during the morning’s free practice.
As the five lights went out several drivers struggled to get a clean start amongst them was the pole man Stark. Eventually his Mercury Optimax engine fired into life but he had some catching up to do on the hard charging pack ahead of him. Fortunately the man to his right, Paolo Zantelli hadn’t closed the door on the world champion who then took the inside line at the first turn and raced off into the lead.
Making the best start was the Norwegian driver Pal Virik Nilsen. As he approached the first turn he looked in his mirror to see no-one on his left side. “I was really surprised to see how far ahead I was” said Virik Nilsen “But then it was hard because I was unsure just how much space I needed to leave on my left side.” As he rounded the mark Stark suddenly appeared on his inside but having left plenty of room there would be no first turn calamities.
Struggling off the line was the former F2 World Champion Jonas Andersson racing for the Team Azerbaijan. “My start was terrible” said Andersson who these days races in the F1H2O series. “I really don’t know much about these Optimax engines” he said “When you press ‘start’ in an F1 boat the engine fires and away you go.”
Just past the twelfth lap Erik Edin, racing Stark’s 2012 Molgaard hull barrel rolled out of contention, “I just hit a huge roller, took off and the boat snapped side-ways and over it went” said the young Swede.
With the race finally back under way Stark was once again out in front, but by this time he had Andersson hunting him down. “I was pushing really hard trying to make up for my bad start and I could see I was catching Stark, but with three laps to go I was baulked by a slower driver and then decided to back off and settle for second place.”
As the race entered its final stages Rupp Temper, who had been plagued with engine problems all weekend barrel rolled his DAC at the pit entrance turn. “When you have no rpm and a bad propeller you have no chance in those conditions” said the disappointed Austrian.
With Temper safely aboard the rescue boat the race turned into a ‘mad dash for the cash’ Stark though held onto the lead much to the delight of his legions of home fans that had lined the course. “I was so relieved to finish” he said “When my radioman told me I was on the last lap I felt I could breathe again. There were moments during that race when my boat took off and I thought how am I going land this thing, I don’t think I have ever held my breath for so long.”
Completing the top three was Virik Nilsen who had been battling hard throughout the race. First he had to fend off Uvis Slakteris, but the Latvian driver managed to pass him on the turn where twelve month ago the Norwegian driver had crashed out. “That was so hard” said Virik Nilsen, “each time I came up to that spot I would have a flash back to last years crash so I would just back off and that’s how Slakteris got past.” Then after he gave himself a good talking too Virik Nilsen settled down and soon found his old form. “As the race got closer to the finish I knew I was in third place but I had Ola Pettersson, who had been very quick all weekend , filling my mirrors. I took some great lines to keep him behind me plus I kept telling myself ‘fourth place is first for losers’ and I wasn’t about to become one of them.”
The next round of the UIM F2 World Championship takes place on 6-7 July at the brand new venue of Baku the capital city of Azerbaijan.
