10 March, DOHA (Qatar): Team Russia’s Andrei Panyushkin will start Race 1 of Nations Cup from pole position after going quickest in this afternoon’s official qualifying session with a time of 50.94s around the 1580metre, four pin circuit.
Following a two hour delay due to poor conditions 13 drivers went out for qualifying but gusting winds and choppy seas again were a factor and disrupted the schedule. “We could see the conditions worsening and the times slowing,” said UIM Race Director Luiz Ribeiro. “On or two teams incurred some minor damage to their boats so we took the decision to reduce the time.”
But the 30 minutes was enough for Panyushkin to maintain his place at the top of the time sheets after dominating in practice yesterday, his time almost 6-tenthsquicker than Team Belarus’ Roman Vandyshev whose teammate squeezed into sixth place.
Mike Szymura maintained his form to keep Germany well placed posting the third quickest time ahead of Italy’s Roberto Lo Piano and Qatar’s Mohammed Al Obaidly.
This afternoon, drivers face each other in the Match Race, with two boats racing off on an alternate course over the best of three runs, their start positions denoted by their positions in qualifying.