ABU DHABI - (12th of July, 2012) - UIM F1 H2O World Championship driver Philippe Chiappe of France continues to prepare his run at his first world title in 2012 by joining two other fellow Frenchman and capturing last weekends UIM World Circuit Endurance Class 3 event in historic Augustow, Poland.
The CTIC China Team driver from Rouen, teamed up with Nelson and Peter Morin completing 352 laps in the eight hour event more than making up for his runner-up position at his home event at the 24 Hours of Rouen back in the month of May.
The veteran 50 year-old driver is chasing his first F1 H2O victory. Philippe has two straight podium finishes after two rounds of the championship thus far this season with a second at the Grand Prix of Qatar and a third at the Grand Prix of Tatarstan three weeks ago in Kazan, Russia.
Chiappe sits tied for second overall in the drivers standings along with Italian Alex Carella of the Qatar Team as the defending World Champion had his best day of the season thus far in Kazan with a win from his second starting position and now joins Philippe with 27 points.
Ahmed Al Hameli of Team Abu Dhabi leads the championship with 35 points on the strength of a win in Doha and a second in Kazan as the 33 year-old drives for his first title as well.
Other current and former F1 alumni who participated in the eight-hour race in lovely Augustow in northeast Poland were Russian Stanislav Kurtsenovskiy, Latvian Uvis Slakteris and local Polish star Bartek Marszalek. All three teamed up in a Class 2 boat but their drive for a win ended in the first hour when technical problems ended their day without Stanislav or Uvis getting a chance to take the wheel in the race.
Bartek, added to the excitement by arranging a showdown of speed between a F1 H2O boat a WRC Rally car and a small airplane. What has almost become a tradition in these matchups the F1 boat won the highly publicized "drag race".
So, it's back to work next weekend for Philippe and his CTIC China Team, as they, along with drivers from 15 other nations head off to the third round of the 2012 UIM F1 H2O World Championship event along the Kiev Sea for the 2nd Annual Grand Prix of Ukraine.
Official Qualifying for the Grand Prix for starting grid positions takes place on Friday, the 20th of July at 18:00 local and 15:00 GMT with the Grand Prix taking place on Saturday, the 21st at 18:00 local, 15:00 GMT and 11:00 EDT on the East Coast of North America.
Every moment of official Qualifying and the Grand Prix can been followed via the International Live Television feed by going to the official UIM F1 H2O website at www.f1h2o.com.
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