Price, Carella qualify second and fourth

Agencies/Sharjah

Qatar Team’s Jay Price in action in qualifying for the Grand Prix of Sharjah yesterday

The Qatar Team’s Jay Price and Alex Carella prepared for their showdown for the world title in Friday’s Grand Prix of Sharjah by qualifying for the race in second and fourth positions on Khalid Lagoon yesterday afternoon.With a Qatar Team member guaranteed to win the 2011 UIM F1 H20 World Championship title, Price needs to stay in front of Carella or at least win the race to claim his first title. Price was the form driver in the qualifying sessions, even if he did miss out on pole position to Team Abu Dhabi’s Ahmed al-Hameli. Qatar’s Shaun Torrente qualified the third boat in eighth place.  Carella also confirmed the UIM F1 H20 World Championship title for the Qatar Team but Price, who trails Carella by five points, knows he will need to stay well ahead of his team-mate in what promises to be a thrilling race on Friday. “It was all about good concentration and a clean lap to try and get the Pole Position today,” said Price. “It will certainly be very interesting in the race,” said Khalid bin Arhama al-Kuwari, head of formula racing at the (QMSF), which runs under the presidency of His Excellency Sheikh Hassan bin Jabor al-Thani.  “Never in 30 years of Formula One racing has a team finished first and second in the championship, so we are on target to make our own piece of history. Alex also claimed the world title in Pole Position today. He knows he has to finish just behind Jay to win the championship and Jay knows he needs to push hard and try and win the race.” In the event of a tie between the two drivers, the number of victories each has amassed in the season may be used. With both drivers on two wins apiece, it could well be a winner-takes-all showdown in Sharjah.  Qatar’s Khaled Saleh al-Shamlan qualified second for the penultimate F-4S race of the season, but had to fight his way back up the field after problems dropped him to seventh overall in the timings.  The Qatari eventually finished third, but Matthew Palfreyman’s victory makes him a clear favourite to beat Sweden’s Bimba Sjoholm to the F-4S title in Friday’s deciding race. Al-Shamlan’s result means that he confirms third place in the UIM F-4S Championship. Three of the 18 boats would be eliminated in the 15 minutes of Q1 and Price posted the first sub-50 target lap of 49.34s and returned to the pit with Carella tucked into second position with a lap of 50.47s. Pierre Lundin split the Qatar Team duo with a lap of 50.15s and pushed Shaun Torrente down to fifth position.  Price and Carella eventually finished the first session in first and fourth overall, with Torrente in seventh and Bartek Marszalek, Rinaldo Osculati and Valerio Lagiannella eliminated from Q2.Price again set the target time of 48.91s and Carella slotted into third behind al-Hameli with nine minutes remaining. The duo held first and fourth heading into the final four minutes, but Torrente was struggling down in 12th place. He managed to improve to an eventual 10th, but Carella slipped to sixth, as Rhys Coles, Duarte Benavente, Phillipe Tourre, Jonas Andersson and Marit Stromoy were eliminated. Price made the most of clean water at the start of Q3 to lay down the gauntlet with a stunning lap of 47.84s, as al-Hameli slotted into second with a 49.00s tour. But the Emirati passed him with a lap of 47.72s to snatch provisional pole.