The 2013
UIM
uim (short for "universal input method") is a multilingual input method framework. Applications can use it through so-called ''bridges''.
Supported applications
uim supports the X Window System legacy XIM (short for X Input Method) through ...
F1 H2O World Championship was the 30th season of
Formula 1 Powerboat racing. For the first time in the championship's history, there was an event held in
South America
South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sout ...
, with the first race of the year taking place in
Brasilia on 1 and 2 June.
In addition, the series' 250th race since it began in 1981 took place on 2 October at the Grand Prix of China in
Liuzhou
Liuzhou (; , IPA Pronunciation:) is a prefecture-level city in north-central Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, People's Republic of China. The prefecture's population was 3,758,700 in 2010, including 1,436,599 in the built-up area made of 4 urban ...
.
Alex Carella, driving for the Qatar Team, successfully defended his world championship for the second year in a row, ensuring he became only the second driver in the history of the championship to win three consecutive world titles, after
Guido Cappellini
Guido Cappellini (born 7 September 1959 in Mariano Comense) is an Italian motorboat racer and the most successful driver of all time in the F1 Powerboat World Championship, with ten world titles. He has also raced in other classes of boat racing, ...
.
Teams and drivers
Team changes
All nine full-time teams from 2012 continued into the 2013 season, although Team Sweden revisited a title sponsorship agreement with the country of
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of t ...
which saw the outfit rebranded to Team Azerbaijan, a partnership last formed back in
2010.
None of the part-time teams that participated in 2012 were present for the opening round in
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
, however there was speculation that Dragon Racing would at some point rejoin the series, as would
Jay Price, the
2008
File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...
champion who drove for the other part-time team in 2012, Skydive Dubai. Neither of these teams ultimately entered the championship however.
Caudwell Racing were forced to miss the first race of the year in Brazil due to their new boats not being ready in time. After it was initially believed that they would join the rest of the field at the second race of the season in
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
, as in Brazil Caudwell were not present. Shortly before the third race at
Liuzhou
Liuzhou (; , IPA Pronunciation:) is a prefecture-level city in north-central Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, People's Republic of China. The prefecture's population was 3,758,700 in 2010, including 1,436,599 in the built-up area made of 4 urban ...
, the South African team made the announcement that they would be returning to the fold in
Qatar
Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it ...
for the fourth race, citing "unprecedented shipping challenges" for their delay.
The delay however allowed the team to design an all-new hull and make major refinements to their revolutionary
four-stroke engine
A four-stroke (also four-cycle) engine is an internal combustion (IC) engine in which the piston completes four separate strokes while turning the crankshaft. A stroke refers to the full travel of the piston along the cylinder, in either directi ...
.
Driver changes
Following his two race ban at the end of the 2012 season, Shaun Torrente returned to the Qatar Team to partner reigning double world champion
Alex Carella.
Neither
Terry Rinker who filled in for Torrente, nor Khalid Al Shamlan, the Qatari who raced for the team for one race in 2012, were announced as drivers.
Ahmed Al Hameli was initially expected to miss out on racing in 2013 following surgery on a brain tumour mid-way through the 2012 season which forced his withdrawal, with Rashed Al Tayer, rather than Majed Al Mansoori who had replaced Al Hameli in 2012, taking his place at Team Abu Dhabi.
However just a week prior to the first race of the year in
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
, Al Hameli announced that he had been cleared by doctors to participate in the championship, completing a remarkable recovery that would allow him to challenge for a championship which he had been favourite to win prior to his operation in 2012.
After a promising debut in the final two races of 2012, Chinese driver Xiong Ziwei was handed a full-time drive alongside regular Team CTIC China driver
Philippe Chiappe, following the retirement of veteran Russian driver Stanislav Kurtsenovskiy.
At the F1 Atlantic Team, Phillipe Toure didn't return for 2013, ensuring that the outfit would run with just two full-time boats for the year, with Duarte Benavente and Youssef Al Rubayan continuing on.
Jonas Andersson continued at the renamed Team Azerbaijan for 2013, and after having a number of different drivers in the team's second boat in 2012, announced that Norwegian veteran Pal Virik Nilsen would make his debut in F1 at Brazil alongside the Swede.
Brazilian Paul Gaiser also entered for Team Azerbaijan in a third boat at his home event
having last raced in F1 back in 2001, 12 years previously. Prior to the Brazilian race, Gaiser announced that it would be his last and would retire from racing afterwards, describing F1 as "a sport for the young". Gaiser was forced to withdraw from the Brazilian event however after injuring his wrist, and subsequently reversed his decision to retire, indicating that he would return to the boat for the next race in
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
. This failed to materialise though, and alongside Andersson in Kiev was fellow Swede Tommy Wahlsten, replacing Nilsen.
But by China, Andersson had a third driver in as many races in his second boat, with recently crowned 2013 USF1 champion
Terry Rinker taking the drive as the American returned to the series after a brief cameo in 2012.
Rinker drove the second Azerbaijan boat until the final race of the year where Wahlsten found himself back in as number two to see out the year.
Both Francesco Cantando and Valerio Lagiannella stayed on at the Singha F1 Racing Team, and would be joined in a third boat by Polish driver Bartek Marszalek at the second round in Ukraine.
Joining Cantando and Marszalek in China was Rhys Coles, the Australian driving Lagiannella's #23 DAC boat having last made an appearance in the series in
2012
File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...
in a one-off drive for Team Sweden at the Grand Prix of Qatar. Prior to his involvement with Singha, Marszalek had last raced in the series in
2011, competing in five races in a third boat for Team Nautica. Nautica were one of two teams who had unchanged line-ups for 2013, along with Mad Croc Baba Racing. Caudwell Racing retained Ivan Brigada when they eventually joined the series at the fourth race in
Qatar
Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it ...
, with South African Paul Shepard making his debut alongside the Italian.
Season calendar
![Countries with F1 Powerboat races in 2013](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b0/Countries_with_F1_Powerboat_races_in_2013.png)
An initial calendar of eight races was released by the UIM at the beginning of 2013, including Brazil, and thus South America for the first time in the history of the F1 Powerboat World Championship.
However the Grand Prix of Tatarstan, due to be the third race of the year and held at the end of August, was cancelled on 29 April, with the Russian authorities in
Kazan
Kazan ( ; rus, Казань, p=kɐˈzanʲ; tt-Cyrl, Казан, ''Qazan'', IPA: ɑzan is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan in Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka rivers, covering an ...
, where the race was to be held, hoping to reintroduce the event for 2014.
This meant the calendar dropped to seven races for the 2013 season, and was the first season that an event wasn't held in Russia since 2007. As part of the seven race calendar, there were to be two back-to-back races in China, and whilst
Liuzhou
Liuzhou (; , IPA Pronunciation:) is a prefecture-level city in north-central Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, People's Republic of China. The prefecture's population was 3,758,700 in 2010, including 1,436,599 in the built-up area made of 4 urban ...
was announced as the second of the two races upon the calendar's release, it took some time for a first race to be confirmed. Eventually
Shanghai
Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...
was announced as the venue at the beginning of May,
and would have been the 250th race in the championship's history. However less than three months later towards the end of July, the event was pulled from the calendar, leaving six races to make up the schedule, and Liuzhou to take the title of the historic 250th GP.
Results and standings
Points were awarded to the top 10 classified finishers. A maximum of two boats per team were eligible for points in the teams' championship.
Drivers standings
Teams standings
Only boats with results eligible for points counting towards the teams' championship are shown here.
References
External links
The official website of the UIM F1 H2O World Championship
{{F1 Powerboat Championship
F1 Powerboat World Championship
The Formula 1 Powerboat World Championship (also F1) is an international motorboat racing competition for powerboats organised by the Union Internationale Motonautique (UIM) and promoted by H2O Racing, hence it often being referred to as F1H2O. ...
Formula 1 Powerboat seasons
F1 Powerboat World Championship
The Formula 1 Powerboat World Championship (also F1) is an international motorboat racing competition for powerboats organised by the Union Internationale Motonautique (UIM) and promoted by H2O Racing, hence it often being referred to as F1H2O. ...