Qatar’s Price and Carella aim to continue fine form

The Qatar Team’s Jay Price and Alex Carella will be hoping to continue their sensational start to the 2011 UIM F1 H20 World Championship season when they tackle this weekend’s 12th Grand Prix of Russia in Kazan.The duo has made the perfect start to the season, clinching first and second positions at the opening two races in Qatar and Portugal. Price has amassed a maximum 40 points from his two race wins and heads Carella by 10 points heading to the new course at the junction of the Volga and Kazanka rivers in the capital of the Russian republic of Tatarstan this weekend. “I don’t really know what to expect and have heard nothing about the race course for the weekend,” admitted Price, the 2008 UIM F1 World Champion, who won the first Grand Prix of Russia in Saint Petersburg in 2009. “We have another race in two weeks, but racing back-to-back events does not change our strategy. We both have back-up boats available. We will try to continue to dominate the races, but it not only takes skill, you also need good equipment, crew and management, which we have at the Qatar Team.“I always want to win. When I don’t feel that I can win I will step down and let another driver take over at each race. But at the moment I am feeling great about the season.”Khalid Bin Arhama Al-Kuwari, head of formula racing at the Qatar Marine Sports Federation (QMSF) - which runs under the presidency of His Excellency Sheikh Hassan bin Jabor Al-Thani - is also relishing the Kazan race weekend. “I understand that Kazan has a great heritage and some unique historical buildings,” said Al-Kuwari. “The actual race course will be new to us all. Our strategy at the beginning of the season focused on 1-2 finishes at each of the races and it has worked so far. That has to be the goal, but we must continue to keep putting points on the board regardless.”The weekend may also see Qatar’s Khalid Saleh Al-Shamlan continue his stunning surge through the UIM F4-S ranks. The rookie clinched a stunning first victory in Portugal in May and holds an outright lead in the 2011 UIM F4-S Championship after four races. He has a slender four-point advantage over Sweden’s Bimba Sjoholm and has everything to play for in the Republic of Tatarstan.Kazan is the eighth largest city in Russia and has a population of 1.1 million. It is the third Russian city to host a round of the UIM F1 H20 World Championship and was voted as the 2009 Sports City of Russia. The Kremlin in Kazan is a UNESCO World Heritage site.