FRUITFUL ASSOCIATION: Jay Price (R) with Khalid bin Arhama al-Kuwari
Sports Reporter/Doha


The Qatar Team will feature a revised driver line-up for the 2012 UIM F1 H20 World Championship, following the resignation of the team’s 2008 World Champion Jay Price at the end of 2011.
Newly-crowned world champion, Alex Carella, will be joined by leading rookie Shaun Torrente and Khalid Saleh al-Shamlan in the Qatar Team for the new F1 racing season that gets underway with the Qatar Grand Prix in Doha Bay on March 9-10.
“Just after the Sharjah race he (Jay) approached me to resign from the team and I accepted his resignation after a few days’ thought,” said Khalid bin Arhama al-Kuwari, head of formula racing at the (QMSF), which runs under the presidency of Sheikh Hassan bin Jabor al-Thani.
“He was more like a brother to me than a friend and we will never forget that he brought the first world title to Qatar in 2008. He was a fighter and is still a fighter.”
As a mark of the QMSF’s appreciation for the outgoing Price’s 11-year involvement and his contribution to promoting power boating, the New Orleans-based driver will receive a token of appreciation from Sheikh Hassan bin Jabor al-Thani during the awards’ ceremony at the forthcoming Qatar Grand Prix, where he will attend as a guest of honour of the Qatar Team.
Carella will now be joined by Torrente and Qatar’s F-4S protégé Khaled Saleh al-Shamlan. The Qatari will continue to race in the UIM F-4S category for the QMSF in a bid to improve on his third place in the 2011 title race, but al-Kuwari admits that he will also race in a third DAC boat for the main team in select F1 races where possible.
The Qatar Team is currently trying to establish whether two boats can be used in the UIM F-4S Championship. Khalid al-Kuwari will drive the second Qatar boat in the popular under-category to F1.
Price’s radio man and leading engine builder Brendan Power will remain with the Qatar Team for the 2012 season. “This will ensure that we remain a potent force at the forefront of the UIM F1 World Championship,” added al-Kuwari.