2015 F1 Powerboat World Championship

International motorboat racing competition F1 Powerboat World Championship 2015 2014 2016 thumb|200px|Philippe Chiappe (pictured in 2009) successfully defended his world title. The 2015 UIM F1 H2O World Championship was the 32nd season of Formula 1 Powerboat racing. The season consisted of six races, beginning in Doha, Qatar, on 14 March 2015, and ending in Sharjah, UAE, on 18 December 2015. Philippe Chiappe, driving for the CTIC China Team, entered the season as defending world champion having won his first title, and the first for a Frenchman, the previous year."Magnifique" Chiappe Wins 2014 F1 H2O World Title! https://www.f1h2o.com/post/magnifique-chiappe-wins-2014-f1-h2o-world-title F1H2O 10 January 2015 26 January 2015 Chiappe successfully defended his title, securing enough points at the penultimate round in Abu Dhabi and thus became the series' fourth back-to-back championship winner.Chiappe Wins Second Straight Title With 2nd Place Finish! https://www.f1h2o.com/post/chiappe-wins-second-straight-title-with-2nd-place-finish F1H2O 11 December 2015 6 January 2016 In addition, the championship witnessed its first ever female race winner, when Marit Strømøy won the final round at Sharjah, with the occasion attracting international media coverage.Marit Stromoy realising a dream after two and half decades https://gulfnews.com/sport/sailing/marit-stromoy-realising-a-dream-after-two-and-half-decades-1.1643442 Gulf News 25 December 2015 6 January 2016Norsk kvinne med historisk Formel 1-seier https://www.nrk.no/vestfold/historisk-seier-for-stromoy-1.12711344 NVK 18 December 2015 6 January 2016Marit Stromoy, primera mujer en ganar una prueba de la F-1 inshore http://www.mundodeportivo.com/motor/20151219/30915479421/marit-stromoy-primera-mujer-ganar-prueba-f-1-lanchas-fueraborda-noruega-gp-sharjah.html Mundo Deportivo 19 December 2015 6 January 2016Marit, la prima donna a vincere in Formula 1 https://ventoevele.gazzetta.it/2015/12/18/marit-la-prima-donna-a-vincere-in-formula-1/ Gazzetta dello Sport 18 December 2015 6 January 2016 Teams and drivers Team Hull Engine No. Boat number Race drivers Rounds CHN CTIC China Team Moore Mercury 2.5 V6 1 FRA Philippe ChiappeCTIC Team Testing In Abu Dhabi For 2015 Opener In Doha! https://www.f1h2o.com/post/ctic-team-testing-in-abu-dhabi-for-2015-opener-in-doha F1H2O 18 February 2015 12 March 2015 All 2 CHN Xiong Ziwei All QAT Qatar Team DAC Mercury 2.5 V6 4 USA Shaun Torrente2015 – A New Era In F1 H2O Racing On And Off The Water! https://www.f1h2o.com/post/2015-a-new-era-in-f1-h2o-racing-on-and-off-the-water F1H2O 11 March 2015 12 March 2015 1 UAE Team Abu Dhabi DAC Mercury 2.5 V6 5 ITA David Del PinTeam Abu Dhabi Switch Driver Line Up – Del Pin In For Al Qemzi https://www.f1h2o.com/post/team-abu-dhabi-switch-driver-line-up-del-pin-in-for-al-qemzi F1H2O 13 March 2015 13 March 2015 1–2 UAE Thani Al QamziVeteran Al Qamzi Back In Team Abu Dhabi Line-Up! https://www.f1h2o.com/post/veteran-al-qemzi-back-in-team-abu-dhabi-line-up F1H2O F1 Powerboat World Championship 17 July 2015 19 July 2015 3–6 6 ITA Alex CarellaCarella Confirms He Is Off To Join Team Abu Dhabi https://www.f1h2o.com/post/carella-confirms-he-is-off-to-join-team-abu-dhabi F1H2O 26 February 2015 12 March 2015 All POR F1 GC Atlantic Team DAC Mercury 2.5 V6 9 KUW Youssef Al Rubayan All Moore 10 POR Duarte Benavente All ITA Mad Croc BaBa Racing Team BaBa Mercury 2.5 V6 11 FIN Sami Seliö All 12 FIN Filip Roms All SWE Team Sweden Molgaard Mercury 2.5 V6 14 SWE Jonas Andersson All 15 SWE Jesper Forss All ITA Motorglass F1 Team DAC Mercury 2.5 V6 18 POL Bartek MarszalekPolish Star Bartek Marszalek Returns to F1! https://www.f1h2o.com/post/polish-star-bartek-marszalek-returns-to-f1 F1H2O 8 June 2015 11 June 2015 2–6 23 AUT Bernd Enzenhofer 1–5 Blaze 24 ITA Francesco Cantando All UAE Emirates Team BaBa Mercury 2.5 V6 27 UAE Ahmed Al Hameli All DAC 28 SWE Erik StarkEmirates Racing Team Adds Sweden’s Erik Stark To Line Up https://www.f1h2o.com/post/emirates-racing-team-adds-sweden-s-erik-stark-to-line-up F1H2O 17 April 2015 25 April 2015 2–6 USA Team NauticaUAE Team EMICTeam Nautica Changes Name And Identity Heading To France! https://www.f1h2o.com/post/team-nautica-changes-name-and-identity-heading-to-france F1H2O 6 June 2015 11 June 2015 BaBa Mercury 2.5 V6 50 NOR Marit Strømøy All DAC 51 SWE Erik Stark 1 Moore FRA Christophe Larigot 2–6 FRA Maverick Racing DAC Mercury 2.5 V6 73 FRA Cédric DeguisneCedric Deguisne to Make F1 Comeback in Evian https://www.f1h2o.com/post/cedric-deguisne-to-make-f1-comeback-in-evian F1H2O 11 June 2015 22 June 2015 2–3 UAE Victory Team BaBaVictoryVictory Team Debuts Two New Raceboats For F1 H2O! https://www.f1h2o.com/post/victory-team-debuts-two-new-raceboats-for-f1-h2o F1H2O 7 December 2015 11 December 2015 Mercury 2.5 V6 77 USA Shaun TorrenteTorrente to Defend Points Lead in Evian With Victory Team https://www.f1h2o.com/post/torrente-to-defend-points-lead-in-evian-with-victory-team F1H2O 19 June 2015 22 June 2015 2–6 78 UAE Nadir Bin HendiNadir Bin Hendi To Make His F1H2O Debut In Porto https://www.f1h2o.com/post/nadir-bin-hendi-to-make-his-f1h2o-debut-in-porto F1H2O 29 July 2015 31 July 2015 3–6Key Regular boat/driver Boat ineligible for team points Team and driver changes The 2015 season would see the biggest team and driver changes for some time, as sporting and political decisions upset the balance of recent years. By far the most significant development was the Qatar Team's withdrawal from the sport following a merger between the Qatar Sailing Federation and Qatar Marine Sports Federation (QMSF); the latter of the two bodies having previously run the Qatar F1H2O operation. The team ran a single boat at the opening race on home waters in Doha for Shaun Torrente, with former teammate and triple world champion Alex Carella having already left for bitter rivals Team Abu Dhabi.Italian Racing Legend Guido Cappellini Joins Team Abu Dhabi As Technical Director And Coach https://www.f1h2o.com/post/italian-racing-legend-guido-cappellini-joins-team-abu-dhabi-as-technical-director-and-coac F1H2O 24 February 2015 12 March 2015 Carella had been tempted to switch teams after manoeuvres behind the scenes at Team Abu Dhabi resulted in Guido Cappellini replacing Scott Gillman as the team's technical director.Italian Racing Legend Guido Cappellini Joins Team Abu Dhabi As Technical Director And Coach http://www.raceboatinternational.com/carella-will-join-team-abu-dhabi/ David Sewell Raceboat International 25 February 2015 12 March 2015 https://web.archive.org/web/20150402160538/http://www.raceboatinternational.com/carella-will-join-team-abu-dhabi/ 2 April 2015 dead dmy-all But whilst Torrente won the opening race of the year for the Qatar Team, by June the squad had been shut down, and Torrente instead joined forces with the widely respected offshore outfit Victory Team, who now turned their attention to the inshore scene. At the third race of the year in Porto, Torrente was joined by reigning Class 1 and X-Cat champion Nadir Bin Hendi, making his debut in the series. Initially, both Victory pilots used customer BaBa hulls, but the team were unsatisfied with their performance and looked to source a supply of Moore boats which were being campaigned successfully by the CTIC China team. Moore refused to supply Victory however, preferring to keep exclusivity with their fellow French-based China team. Denied, Victory went and built their own hulls which were ready by the Abu Dhabi GP, where the new self-titled Victory hulls made their debut. It was noted however that the new boats bore somewhat of a resemblance to their Moore counterparts.Spot the difference http://www.raceboatinternational.com/spot-the-difference/ David Sewell Raceboat International 10 December 2015 11 December 2015 https://web.archive.org/web/20160304075321/http://www.raceboatinternational.com/spot-the-difference/ 4 March 2016 dead dmy-all At Team Abu Dhabi Carella was initially partnered with Thani Al Qamzi, but on 13 March, the day before the season-opening Qatar GP, Al Qamzi and new team principal Cappellini had a bitter argument over which boat the driver should use. The outcome resulted in Al Qamzi being sacked from the team, and at the eleventh hour was replaced by Italian rookie David Del Pin.All Italian driver line up for Team Abu Dhabi http://www.raceboatinternational.com/all-italian-driver-line-up-for-team-abu-dhabi/ John Moore Raceboat International 13 March 2015 13 March 2015 https://web.archive.org/web/20150402142319/http://www.raceboatinternational.com/all-italian-driver-line-up-for-team-abu-dhabi/ 2 April 2015 dead dmy-all After the second round in France however, Del Pin was demoted to reserve driver and Al Qamzi returned to Team Abu Dhabi in time for the third race in Portugal. Having been replaced by Carella, Ahmed Al Hameli was left on the sidelines but joined up with ousted principal Scott Gillman. Having been sacked, Gillman took his organisation Gillman Racing and renamed it Emirates Team. This forced Cappellini and the rest of the Team Abu Dhabi management to lodge an entirely new entry as Abu Dhabi had been effectively title-sponsoring Gillman Racing previously.Arek Rejs talks Qatar F1 H2O http://www.raceboatinternational.com/arek-rejs-talks-qatar-f1-h20// Arek Rejs Raceboat International 25 March 2015 26 January 2016September 2019 InternetArchiveBot yes Returning to how he began his team in the 1990s prior to Abu Dhabi involvement, Gillman described his new venture as aiming to "nurture Emirati talent". For the first race of the year, with no F1 hull readily available at such short notice, Gillman and Al Hameli had to source an F2 boat – Ivan Brigada's BaBa from the previous year – replacing the smaller capacity F2 engine for an F1-standard one. By the second round of the year, the team had new BaBa hulls ready to race, and alongside Al Hameli, Erik Stark was signed from Team Nautica. Considered one of the sport's brightest prospects, Stark had finished sixth in the 2014 championship, and backed the performance up with a third-place finish in the first race of 2015. Stark was replaced at Team Nautica by Frenchman Christophe Larigot, making his debut in F1, and prior to the French GP, Nautica announced they would be changing their team name to Team EMIC, at the same time switching from racing under the American flag, to the Emirati one. Brigada's former employers Caudwell Racing did not return for 2015, having folded last year without completing the season. This left Brigada and Slovakia's Tomáš Čermák without drives and ensured that the field returned to being entirely powered by 2.5 litre two stroke Mercury engines. Reigning champions CTIC China Team retained their line-up of Philippe Chiappe and Xiong Ziwei, and F1 GC Atlantic Team, Mad Croc BaBa Racing and Team Sweden, also all named unchanged line-ups from 2014. Francesco Cantando's Motorglass F1 Team saw a change as Austrian Bernd Enzenhofer joined, whilst Bartek Marszalek skipped the first race in Qatar and rejoined the team from the French GP. France also saw the entry of another new team alongside Victory, with French team Maverick Racing running Cédric Deguisne, who returned to the sport after a ten-year absence. Maverick competed in just the French and Portuguese rounds and did not travel with the rest of the teams for the remaining races outside of Europe. Season calendar thumb|300px|Countries that hosted F1 Powerboat races in 2015, shown in green. Former host nations are shown in pink. A provisional calendar of eight races was released by the UIM on 24 January 2015, the largest since 2010 and featuring two races in Europe for the first time since the 2011 season when Portimao and Kyiv appeared.2015 Calendars http://www.uimpowerboating.com/2015-calendars/ Union Internationale Motonautique 26 January 2015 Portugal returned after a four-year absence,Porto To Host Grand Prix of Portugal https://www.f1h2o.com/post/porto-to-host-grand-prix-of-portugal F1H2O 11 February 2015 12 February 2015 whilst France appeared on the calendar for the first time since 2007, an eight-year gap.F1H2O Returns To France And Lovely Evian In June! https://www.f1h2o.com/post/f1h2o-returns-to-france-and-lovely-evian-in-june F1H2O 17 March 2015 19 March 2015 The French race featured as a consequence of Chiappe's title success in 2014. Qatar returned to a single slot having filled in for the cancelled Ukraine round in 2014 with an additional race, whilst the traditional end-of-year double header in the UAE continued at Abu Dhabi and Sharjah. An additional race in China at Shanghai was initially planned alongside regular venue Liuzhou,F1H2O Returns To Shanghai! https://www.f1h2o.com/post/f1h2o-returns-to-shanghai F1H2O 30 March 2015 25 April 2015 however this race was later cancelled in August. Another race that was planned and subsequently cancelled was a visit to Thailand, in what would have seen the series return to the country for the first time since 1994.UIM F1 H2O Back Firing On All Cylinders http://raceboatinternational.com/archive/index.php?id=2249 Raceboat International 24 January 2015 26 January 2015 https://web.archive.org/web/20160203092424/http://raceboatinternational.com/archive/index.php?id=2249 3 February 2016 dead dmy-all With the two cancellations, the calendar reverted to six races over the course of the year. Round Race title Date Circuit location Race winner Hull/engine 1 QAT 12th Grand Prix of Qatar 14 March Doha USA Shaun Torrente DAC/Mercury 2 FRA 19th Grand Prix of France 28 June Évian-les-Bains KUW Youssef Al Rubayan DAC/Mercury 3 POR 14th Grand Prix of Portugal 2 August Porto FRA Philippe Chiappe Moore/Mercury 4 CHN 19th Grand Prix of China 2 October Liuzhou FRA Philippe Chiappe Moore/Mercury 5 UAE 23rd Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi 11 December Abu Dhabi ITA Alex Carella DAC/Mercury 6 UAE 16th Grand Prix of Sharjah 18 December Sharjah NOR Marit Strømøy BaBa/Mercury Results and standings Points were awarded to the top 10 classified finishers. A maximum of two boats per team were eligible for points in the teams' championship. Position  1st   2nd   3rd   4th   5th   6th   7th   8th   9th   10th  Points 20 15 12 9 7 5 4 3 2 1 Drivers standings Pos Driver QATQAT FRAFRA PORPOR CHNCHN ABUUAE SHAUAE Points 1 FRA Philippe Chiappe 2 Ret 1 1 2 Ret 70 2 ITA Alex Carella 5 DSQ 3 Ret 1 2 54 3 USA Shaun Torrente 1 4 5 8 Ret 3 51 4 KUW Youssef Al Rubayan 7 1 8 4 9 Ret 38 5 NOR Marit Strømøy 6 10 DNS 5 6 1 38 6 SWE Erik Stark 3 Ret 2 DNS Ret 4 36 7 FIN Sami Seliö Ret 5 Ret 3 4 5 35 8 SWE Jonas Andersson 4 2 Ret 6 Ret 6 34 9 UAE Thani Al Qamzi 6 2 3 Ret 32 10 FIN Filip Roms 8 3 7 11 Ret Ret 19 11 UAE Ahmed Al Hameli Ret Ret 10 Ret 5 7 12 12 SWE Jesper Forss Ret 6 DNS 9 DNS 8 10 13 ITA Francesco Cantando Ret Ret 4 Ret Ret Ret 9 14 POR Duarte Benavente 10 Ret Ret 7 7 Ret 9 15 POL Bartek Marszalek 7 11 DNS 8 Ret 7 16 FRA Christophe Larigot 9 9 12 10 10 6 17 FRA Cédric Deguisne 8 Ret 3 18 UAE Nadir Bin Hendi Ret DNS Ret 9 2 19 ITA David Del Pin 9 DNS 2 20 CHN Xiong Ziwei 11 11 Ret 10 Ret Ret 1 21 AUT Bernd Enzenhofer DNS DNS DNS 13 DNS 0 Teams standings Only boats with results eligible for points counting towards the teams' championship are shown here. Pos Team BoatNo. QATQAT FRAFRA PORPOR CHNCHN ABUUAE SHAUAE Points 1 UAE Team Abu Dhabi 5 9 DNS 6 2 3 Ret 88 6 5 DSQ 3 Ret 1 2 2 CHN CTIC China Team 1 2 Ret 1 1 2 Ret 71 2 11 11 Ret 10 Ret Ret 3 USA Team NauticaUAE Team EMIC 50 6 10 DNS 5 6 1 56 51 3 9 9 12 10 10 4 ITA Mad Croc BaBa Racing Team 11 Ret 5 Ret 3 4 5 54 12 8 3 7 11 Ret Ret 5 POR F1 GC Atlantic Team 9 7 1 8 4 9 Ret 47 10 10 Ret Ret 7 7 Ret 6 SWE Team Sweden 14 4 2 Ret 6 Ret 6 44 15 Ret 6 DNS 9 DNS 8 7 UAE Emirates Team 27 Ret Ret 10 Ret 5 7 36 28 Ret 2 DNS Ret 4 8 UAE Victory Team 77 4 5 8 Ret 3 33 78 Ret DNS Ret 9 9 QAT Qatar Team 4 1 20 10 ITA Motorglass F1 Team 23 DNS DNS DNS 13 DNS 9 24 Ret Ret 4 Ret Ret Ret 11 FRA Maverick Racing 73 8 Ret 3 References 30em External links The official website of the UIM F1 H2O World Championship The official website of the Union Internationale Motonautique F1 Powerboat World Championship Category:Formula 1 Powerboat seasons F1 Powerboat World Championship