Amaravathi gearing up for major international speed-boating extravaganza: F1H2O

Amaravathi (AP), 3 Nov 2018: The futuristic city and crown jewel of Andhra Pradesh will host a grand sporting extravaganza in UIM F1H2O Grand Prix of Amaravati, a big-time international speed-motoring event on the waters of the Krishna River in Vijayawada from November 16 to 18 and the preparations are going on here, on a massive scale. The fifth round of F1H2O World Championship is bound to set a milestone and a standard for the future events.

N Chandrababu Naidu, Chief Minister of the Government of Andhra Pradesh, wants to attract the world’s attention to the event and so the arrangements are on a grand scale, in his typical organising perfection. The new state’s, first international water sports event is expected to boost the sporting environment of AP and inculcate a culture of sports tourism.

One of the main attractions for the tens-of-thousands of spectators that are expected to line the banks of the Krishna River will be the boats of Jonas Andersson and Erik Edin running in the colours of Team Amaravati and backed by the Andhra Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation. In the team’s first outing in Amaravati colours Andersson finished on the podium in third place in BRM Qualifying and in fourth place in the Agile Grand Prix, Xiangyang recently.

Team Abu Dhabi is very much in control of proceedings as the championship heads into the business end of the season, kick-starting the crucial three-race run into year-end and title honours with the Grand Prix of India in Amaravati from November 16 to 18 for the Round 5 of the UIM F1H2O World Championship.

The Abu Dhabi trio of Thani Al Qemzi, Erik Stark and Shaun Torrente are currently locked in an inter-team battle for title honours, holding the top three spots in the title race and split by just two points, 54 to 52, with the Abu Dhabi outfit comfortably out front in the Teams Championship by 42 points.

For the remaining title hopefuls, the fight back has to start now, with CTIC F1 Shenzhen China duo Philippe Chiappe and Peter Morin best placed and the closest challengers, 20 and 24 points off top spot.

Jonas Andersson has confirmed that British driver Ben Jelf will join Team Amaravati for its home Grand Prix.

The 18-year-old from Kent will compete in boat 41 in the F4-S Championship with the team currently sitting in third place in the standings, 14 points behind Blaze Performance in top spot. “We are pleased to have a great young competitor like Ben driving in F4-S for Team Amaravati and we are sure that he will do his best to try to get a podium finish for us,” said Jonas Andersson. “We have been following Ben’s career for a while and it is great news that he will be joining us in India.”