Seliö
Seliö
Seliö to withdraw from the competition, Zandbergen drove to pole position
The roller coaster ride of emotions continued for the Sharjah Team following qualification for the Federazione Italiana Motonautica (FIM) Grand Prix of Italy taking place in San Nazzaro just south of Milan.
During yesterdays (FIM) Grand Prix of Regione Emilia Romagna, Sami Seliö was crashed into by Marit Stromoy resulting in both drivers failing to finish the race. The damage was too severe for Seliö to race that BaBa hull in today’s Grand Prix, so, the Sharjah Team mechanics and technicians worked long into the night preparing the teams spare hull.
In misty weather conditions Qualifying got under way and both Seliö and Ferdinand Zandbergen comfortably made it through Q1 with Seliö setting the second fastest time and Zandbergen back in eighth place.
After a short break Q2 got underway and right from the start Seliö posted the quickest time but knew that he needed more laps to get the feel of the boat. Then during his fifth lap he just pushed it to the limit which resulted in flipping the BaBa hull over backwards crashing out in the process. Once again the rescue teams were quickly on the crash site, fortunately Seliö was unhurt in the impact and once checked over by the medical team he was then able to inspect the damaged hull.
“That’s the first time that I have ever flipped like that by myself” said Seliö, “I still have no real idea of what happened. I knew that I had set the quickest time but I felt that I still had no real feeling with this hull. The last time I raced it was back in 2019, so I spoke to the team and said I wanted to continue for a few more laps to get reacquainted with it .”
The boat suffered damaged to the nose and front left sponson which makes it un-raceable this afternoon. Fortunately the BaBa factory is based just 150 Kms from here so at least that some good news for the team as they head there to carry out repairs to both damaged hulls.
Meanwhile Zandbergen was still out there in Q2 and even know he knew the plight of his team-mate he now had to remain focused on achieving his best lap possible. With just forty seconds of the session left to run he knew it was ‘now or never’ if he was to progress to Q3. Finding clear water ahead of him he went out and posted the second quickest time, ironically the only time quicker than his had been set by Seliö.
With just five drivers heading through to Q3 he knew that the chances of finding a clear lap had greatly improved but he was also mindful of the fact that he now shouldered the responsibility of the Sharjah Team so had to finish the right way up.
“It was always in the back of my mind that I needed to put a safe lap in but as I took each turn I felt that it was a good one and they just kept coming. When I saw the lap time appear on my screen I thought ‘Wow’.”
There was still seven minutes left in the session and with Zandbergen parked up at the top of the course he watched on in agony as the remaining four drivers tried to better the young Dutch drivers time. As the minutes counted down he felt comfortable enough to head back to the pits.
“As I was slowly heading down towards the pits I could see Jonas Andersson crossing the finish line and I thought oh well second place is ok, then all I heard through the radio was my crew shouting ‘pole position, you are on pole position’ what an awesome feeling.”
Seliö was the first to praise his team-mate on his first ever powerboat racing pole position. “Absolutely great for him and now it shows that the Sharjah Team have two strong drivers both capable of getting the job done.”
