Kuwaiti Yousef Al Robayan wins the UIM F2 Grand Prix of Hungary

After an absence of nearly eight years the opening round of the F2 World Championship returned to the beautiful city of Dunaujvaros, Hungary with teams from all over Europe and as far as Kuwait taking part.

With the start lights out and full ‘pedal to the metal’ 17 of the world’s best powerboat drivers roared into action and did not fail to excite the thousands of spectators, just before the first turn, local Hungarian driver Laszlo Kovacs, German Nick Bisterfeld and France’s Philippe Tourre had a spectacular crash. Unfortunately for Nick & Laszlo their race was over, but Tourre was able to continue, yellow flags and quick reactions from the Officials saw both boats recovered quickly and the drivers unhurt.

Kuwaiti Yousef Al Robayan, continued to lead the field of drivers under the yellow flag, followed by Erik Stark and current F2 World Champion Johan Coenradi from the Netherlands, both had excellent starts and were in 2^nd & 3^rd Position.

Just a couple of laps later the tensions were running high and the race was re-started, only for Latvian Uvis Slakteris & Italian Ivan Brigada to have separate spectacular accidents, with Ivan Brigada flying high and missing the dock wall by inches.  Thankfully both drivers were unhurt, but both boats took some time to recover due to the scale of the damage.

By lap 15 the race was well underway again with Yousef still leading Erik Stark, Johan Coenradi and Colin Jelf.  On lap 34 the British driver Colin Jelf challenged Johan Coenradi for 3^rd position and managed to take 3rd, leaving Johan and Owen Jelf to continue fighting for 4^th position. On lap 36 Erik Stark seemed to run into trouble on a turn buoy leaving the Jelf brothers the opportunity to take 2^nd & 3^rd.

With a few laps to go,  Colin managed to catch up with leading man Yousef Al Robayan, but the cool man from Kuwait had nothing to worry about with power to spare he eased his boat effortlessly across the finish line winning the UIM F2 World Championship GP of Hungary, much to the delight of his Port Ghalib Team and thousands of fans across the world.

Other notable performances of the day were new Driver Rupp Temper from Austria who found himself in 6^th race position after starting 15^th on the grid and Local Hungarian driver Bela Cserni who finished 8^th after starting from 16^th on the grid – much to the delight of local crowds.

After such a highly action packed race, the inevitable penalties were issued by the officials. Philippe Tourre of France received a Yellow Card and Disqualification for his part in the accident involving Laszlo Kovacs & Nick Bisterfeld along with Sweden’s Erik Stark who also received a Yellow card + Disqualification for his part in Ivan Brigada’s accident.  The 3^rd disqualification was directed at Polish Driver Bartek Marszalek for rounding the turn the wrong way. A disappointment for all drivers involved after the impressive performances they gave all weekend.

With the most exciting F2 race in years drawing to a close, the drivers are fired up and ready for the next round in Stockholm, Sweden on the 10^th & 11^th July. The boats will be repaired and ready to battle again !

Yousef Al Robayan now leads the UIM F2 World Championship 2010, with British drivers Colin & Owen Jelf 2^nd & 3^rd and current F2 World Champion Netherlands Johan Coenradi in 4^th.

All of the drivers and teams extend their thanks to the Hungarian National Authority, the Rescue, the Timing Team and the UIM Officials for working to ensure the event was a complete success.

Paolo Zantelli Wins the F2 Match Race & Erik Stark Wins the F2 Speed Record !

After a gruelling day of practice and Qualifying, 8 of the F2 drivers took the waters of Dunaujvaros for the traditional F2 ‘Speed Record’ & ‘Match Race’ which is held at each event.

First up was the speed record, which saw young Swedish driver Erik Stark victorious after setting an awesome speed of 173 KM/h on the 2 pin circuit. He was closely followed by France’s Philippe Tourre with 172 KM/h and British driver Colin Jelf with a 171 KM/h time.

It was an unlucky speed record attempt for Latvian Driver Uvis Slakteris & British driver Owen Jelf, who were both Disqualified for passing on the wrong side of the Radar Gun.  A small mistake with a big cost as both drivers were very quick.

Next up was the match race where the drivers race in groups of 2 in a head to head battle. The winner from each race moves into the next heat and the races continually run until a winner is declared.

After some great racing the final 2 heats saw Uvis Slakteris Vs Owen Jelf for 3^rd position, with the talented Latvian Driver winning and taking the 3^rd place overall.

The exciting final of Paolo Zantelli Vs Colin Jelf did not disappoint the crowds, with a nail biting ‘photo finish’ past the chequered flag. After some debate the officials awarded the win to Paolo with Colin settling for 2^nd place – there was just a few centimetres difference.