LIUZHOU, China - Friday, 2 October, 2015 - The dream finally came true!

It took French driver Philippe Chiappe 16 races and competing in China since 2004 to reach his goal, but the defending World Champion of the CTIC China Team captured his first victory in the People's Republic at the fourth round of the UIM F1 H2O World Championship event at the 21st Grand Prix of China in front of over a hundred thousand race fans along the Liu River in Liuzhou.

The pilot from Rouen led from start to finish from pole position and held of stiff competition from drivers from 12 different nations on the very tricky six-pin two kilometer race circuit winning by seven seconds ahead of Team Abu Dhabi driver Thani Al Qamzi who is a two-time winner himself in China.

"It was a tough 45 lap event and I had to be very careful through the traffic today," said Philippe. "We had the perfect package and I feel very satisfied with the teams performance and had no real issues all weekend long under extreme pressure to finally win here at my teams home race circuit."

For the driver from Abu Dhabi, Thani felt pressure all race long from third place finisher and another two time winner in China in Sami Selio of Finland as the Mad Croc Baba Racing driver stayed hot on his heals finishing just 4.46 seconds back for the final podium place position.

"For me, it was an easy drive today," said Thani. "The conditions were perfect with a little wind and really no large waves so we just cruised home from our second starting position. It was my first podium since being here a year ago and felt good to pick up some points as well."

For Selio, almost the same feeling, "Yes, it was great to finally reach the podium after two crashes this season and get back into my old "classic" BABA hull again," said the Helsinki driver. "We are still searching for a title but now we need a lot of help to pull off this miracle at least in 2015. Most importantly, we doing better and that's the important thing to get to the end of the road."

Kuwaiti driver Youssef Al-Rubayan in the F1 Atlantic Team machine was in a huge and long fight with American driver and points leader Shaun Torrente of the Victory Team for most of the race with the four year veteran coming home on top at the end picking up nine points while the Florida driver hit a buoy and was penalized two laps taking an eighth place in the final standings and dropping to second in the drivers championship at the same time.

Norwegian driver Marit Stromoy had a masterful day charging up from having qualified 14th and taking fifth in her EMIC Team BABA boat for her best finish in over two years in a solid drive.

Swedish driver Jonas Andersson who won in China back in 2009 had qualified fifth and fought hard to take a sixth after finding his race setup less than ideal in his Team Sweden Molgaard boat. He now sits fourth in the world standings with still a solid chance for his first world F1 title.

Duarte Benavente of Portugal in his F1 Atlantic Team boat came home seventh for his second finish of the season just ahead of the penalized Torrente who's eighth now gives him 39 points on the season in second place.

Swedish driver Jesper Forss in the Team Sweden earned his second top ten of the year in ninth place while home grown driver Ziwei "Leo" Xiong picked up his first point of the season with a 10th place for his CTIC China Team happy with breakout into the points chase.

A footnote in the event was that three time defending race champion Alex Carella of Team Abu Dhabi dropped out early on the fourth lap with problems ending his string of victories here that dated back to 2012.

As the fourth round of the 2015 championship comes to a close, all attention shifts to United Arab Emirates with back to back races planned in Abu Dhabi and Sharjah on the 10th and 11th and 17th and 18th of December to determine this years Drivers Championship.

Between now and then many teams realize they are still within a shout of the title either for the drivers or the team titles and the hard work won't stop for another six weeks.

You can follow all the up to date news by going to the tours official website at www.f1h2o.com as the tour chases down the final 40 points of the UIM F1 H2O World Championship season.

Be In The Know - With F1 H2O!