LIUZHOU, China - Wednesday 30 September, 2015 - In what has turned out to a meteoric rise in just 10 race starts in his first one and one-half years of racing, Sweden's Erik Stark is quickly making a real name for himself on the UIM F1 H2O World Championship tour.
As the championship kicks off the start of its second half of the season at the 21st Grand Prix of China in lovely Liuzhou in the tropical southern region of the Peoples Republic, the driver of Emirates Team is hoping to recreate his success he had a year ago here on the Liu River when he scored his first ever podium with a second place finish in only his fourth career start.
"China was a dream last year as we got everything right climbing from seventh off the dock and being patient in the race around this very fast and technical six pin circuit," said the four-time World F2 champion.
"I like race circuits that are relatively smooth and fast and usually the racing conditions here are a lot less dramatic than the usual rough races we've had throughout this season. I am feeling ready and confident and gearing up for hopefully another repeat performance from 2014."
For the young driver from Stockholm, he sits currently tied for third in the championship with 27 points and is nine points behind the leader Shaun Torrente of the Victory Team who sits atop the standings with 36 points with three races to be run in 2015.
Right in Erik's corner and mentoring the young driver while also running the Emirates Team is four-time World Champion Scott Gillman. The American driver from California knows his way around the sport having earned "Hall-of-Fame " honors after accumulating 23 career victories and reaching the podium a record 89% of the time when finishing races in his career.
The three-time North American champion who has won twice in his four career starts here in China, heads this new team with Erik joined by very talented driver Ahmed Al Hameli who has six career victories and nine pole positions including three in China.
"I think Erik has a gift of driving and he really thinks about every situation on the race circuit at every moment of a race," said Scott. "Actually, he reminds me a lot like how I ran early in my career and I see nothing but great success if he really focuses on his future in F1 H2O racing."
Nineteen drivers from 12 various nations have entered the 254th career F1 event that dates back to series beginnings in 1981. Racing here in Liuzhou started it's history in 2008 with American Jay Price winning that first event on the Liu River.
Italian Alex Carella of Team Abu Dhabi has had a recent stranglehold on event having won the last three years from pole position and four overall victories in China in his career. He'll need to keep his streak alive if he is going to have a real chance in the championship this season being tied for fifth with 19 points and trailing the leader Torrente by 17 while 60 points are still up for grabs in the championship.
French driver and defending World Champion Philippe Chiappe of the home standing CTIC China Team is just a point back with 35 after coming off a brilliant victory in Porto, Portugal two months ago as he searches for his first win in China after 15 tries.
The fourth round of the UIM F1 H2O World Championship takes place beginning on Thursday the 1st of October with official qualifying for the race and battle for pole position. The three qualifying session format will take place beginning at 15:00 local (07:00 UTC) and 03:00 EDT on the East Coast of North America.
The 21st Grand Prix of China will play out on Friday the 2nd of October at 14:00 local (06:00 UTC) and 02:00 EDT on the East Coast of North America. Both official qualifying and the Grand Prix can be followed "live" via the tours official website at www.f1h2o.com with live scoring and the worldwide television broadcast feed available.
Young Erik Stark will be looking for a breakthrough performance tomorrow lets see if he can take the first step by earning his first career pole position for the Emirates Team driver.
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