Four times, F2 World Champion Rashed Al Qemzi today took a step closer to his fifth World Championship title today as he took the win today at the F2 World Championship Grand Prix Italy, San Nazzaro.
The reigning Champion had started the weekend on a strong footing when he secured Pole Position over team mate Mansoor Al Mansoori during the qualification session.
Sweden’s Mathilda Wiberg would start in third on the grid with British Racer Matthew Palfreyman in fourth.
Thirty-five laps sat between nineteen drivers and the Grand Prix title, and the pressure was on!
Of the six drivers that qualified for Q3 Saturday’s session, any of them and several of the other drivers in the fleet were capable of securing the Grand Prix win and were all ready for the fight ahead.
Sunday afternoon dawned, and the lights went out for the fourth Grand Prix of the 2024 season.
As the boats powered towards the first turn Norway’s Frode Sundsdal looked to have got a fantastic start but having to maintain his line around the turn in 9th position meant the Norwegian lost some ground after the first turn.
As the boats powered round the first turn, there was no surprise to see that Rashed Al Qemzi had also got a phenomenal start and only had one thing on his mind and that was claiming the chequered flag.
No sooner had the race started than four laps in the yellow flag was deployed as the turn one was drifting and the buoys had to be replaced. Lithuania’s Egidijus Dagilis was forced to retire after the start with an engine problem that saw him return early to the pits.
Rashed had a strong lead, and with his team mate Mansoor Al Mansoori in second place, it was game on for an Abu Dhabi 1,2 finish. Both drivers managed to hold off the chasing pack in the restart. And despite pressure from Mathilda Wiberg in third place, the drivers looked set to pull off 1st and 2nd at their home event.
Lap twenty and another turn buoy was dislodged, and the boats returned to under the yellow flag whilst the markers were replaced. The remaining drivers lined up for the restart, ready for the flag to drop at any time.
Several of the drivers had been forced to retire with some facing intermittent engine problems throughout the weekend, including local racer David Del Pin.
With the race back underway, Rashed once more powered ahead of the chasing pack. Edgaras Riabko was looking for every opportunity to try to pass Matthew Palfreyman, who was trying to make his move on Mathilda at any given moment.
It all went wrong for Frode Sundsdal on the restart when a collision with Monaco’s Giacomo Sacchi-Abbate saw him spectacularly flip out of his come back race.
Back under the yellow flag and hurtling towards the end of the race. Frode and boat were recovered, and it was back to the action on water.
On what he classes as his second home Rashed Al Qemzi kept his cool in the blistering heat to secure his second Grand Prix of the season and in doing so taking him one step closer to another World Crown.
Mansoor Al Mansoori raced a clean race to secure the double for the Abu Dhabi Racing Team and promote himself to 4th in the overall standings.
Proving her doubters wrong Mathilda Wiberg once more put in a commanding performance pushing Al Mansoori throughout the 35 lap race but also managing to keep the experienced Matthew Palfreyman and Edgaras Riabko firmly in her racing mirrors as she pushed herself into second in the championship standings taking another Bronze medal finish in the championship.
On securing the Grand Prix win championship leader Rashed Al Qemzi had this to say “It was a good race, I got a good start and managed to navigate my way through the laps with relative ease and no major problems on the water.”
He continued “I am very happy with my win bit also for my teammate Mansoor who took second it is a good result for the whole team and our manager Guido Cappellini.
We now focus on the next two races in Portugal, and I am ready to fight to claim my fifth World Title.”
The Championship now heads to Portugal for two rounds of racing, with the first race taking place on the 13th 15th September in Peso da Régua.
