Saturday, August 23: Three-time world champion Shaun Torrente managed to pass his Victory Team colleague Alec Weckström on the opening lap and went on to confirm a 2.061-second victory in the second of the 14-lap Sprint races at the 3rdGrand Prix of Indonesia on Saturday morning.
The two racers were the class of the field with Team Abu Dhabi’s Erik Stark moving up to take the final place on the Sprint race podium from young Italian Alberto Comparato, Grant Trask of the China CTIC Team and sixth-placed Marit Strømøy in her four-stroke V8 360 APX Mercury-engined DAC.
Torrente duly earned 10 championship points to tie Team Sweden’s Jonas Andersson at the top of the early Drivers’ Championship. The pumped-up Florida-based racer said: “It’s been a long two years. You really find out who believes in you and who cares. I thought this part of my life was over. Alec is such a great driver. He had 100 per cent commitment and I knew he would hold his lane. We went in hard and I had enough to take the lead coming out. Man, I didn’t fly all this way not to take it all the way….”
Weckström added: “For sure, nice result for the team, a 1-2, what better can you get? Now we focus to try and do the same tomorrow. Let’s see how we are set on the track tomorrow for the race.”
Third-placed Stark said: “We had some struggles yesterday with the engine and we fixed it. Today, the boat was running well. Starting at the back it was difficult to come back but we had a good start and we keep moving forward. Starting seventh tomorrow, but anything can happen, it’s F1H2O.”
Maverick Racing’s Alexandre Bourgeot delivered a strong performance to finish seventh, ahead of Dutchman Ferdinand Zandbergen, Team Abu Dhabi’s rookie Mansoor Al-Mansoori and the F1 Atlantic Team’s veteran Duarte Benavente.
Fourteen laps lay ahead with Weckström on pole from team-mate Torrente, Strømøy, Stark, Comparato, Trask, Zandbergen, Bourgeot, Al-Mansoori and Benavente. Stark was hopeful that he had sorted Friday’s minor engine issue that had potentially kept the Swede out of Q3. He had been just 0.016 seconds slower than Sprint race one winner Jonas Andersson in the morning’s fourth free practice session.
Weckström managed to hold Torrente off into the opening turn buoy but the determined American found a way through and snatched the lead heading through the first lap. Stark stormed into third from Comparato, Trask, Strømøy, Bourgeot, Zandbergen, Al-Mansoori and Benavente.
By lap two, Torrente had edged into a 3.913-second advantage over his Victory Team colleague as the remainder of the field held their positions. The lead grew to 4.430 seconds into lap seven but there were no changes on the leader board at half-distance.
Torrente managed his pace for the remainder of the race to reach the chequered flag 2.061 seconds in front of Weckström with Stark, Comparato and Trask rounding off the top five in what developed into a processional race after the early excitement.
Drivers will be permitted further warm-up on Sunday morning before the 3rd Grand Prix of Indonesia fires into life at 11.15hrs (GMT +7).
