Saturday, 19 November, MARINA BAY (Singapore): Ahmed Al Hameli backed up his pole position in qualifying to win this afternoon's F1H2O Nations Cup Match Race and complete an impressive double for Team UAE.
And for the second time today Team Qatar's Khalid Al Shamlan had to settle for second place behind the UAE driver, just missing out in a closely contested final shoot-out on Singapore’s Marina Bay.
The two-hour match race saw 16 drivers go through from qualifying to go head-to-head in a straight, knockout elimination, with Al Hameli coming out on top to match his success in the President’s Cup Match Race in Kyiv back in July.
A relatively easy route to the semi-final saw Al Hameli first dispose of Team Brazil, and then rather surprisingly, ease past Team South Africa's Mark Sheperd.
Al Shamlan's route appeared as effortless, taking the younger of Team Hungary’s Vo brothers, Viktor, in the first round and then Team Finland’s Risto Painio.
The semi-finals saw the UAE driver outpace Team Malaysia’s Kane Fernandez – who was gifted third overall after Team Brunei's Ismail bin haji Kabon was disqualified – with Al Shamlan running solo around the course due to Kabon’s DQ.
The Match Race final brought together the two fastest men on the water, with Al Hameli having to work hard to just get across the line in front of Al Shamlan.
F1H2O Nations Cup – Match race result/points
16UAEAhmed Al Hameli25pts24QatarKhalid Al Shamlan22pts316MalaysiaKane Fernandez20pts414FinlandRisto Painio18pts512SingaporeLarry Chua Wen Zheng16pts67South AfricaMark Shepherd15pts710BruneiIsmail bin Hj Kabon14pts822HungaryViktor Vo13pts918BrazilPaul Gaiser12pts10=11SingaporeLaurence Wong Seong11pts10=21HungaryKornel Vo11pts1215MalaysiaRobert Fernandez9pts1313FinlandMeeri Painio8pts14=3QatarKhalid Al Kuwari7pts14=19Saudi ArabiaNaeem al Kedawi7pts14=5UAEMajed Al Mansoori7pts1717BrazilLebos Chaguri4pts18=8South AfricaTomthy FetherstonhaughDNS18=9BruneiNordin bin Haji MohamadDNS
(NB – positions below top 3 determined by times / or position in qualifying if driver did not qualify for match race)
Comments