23-year-old Estonian Stefan Arand (Sharjah Team) won the qualifying round of the F1 H2O World Championship in Shanghai, China, becoming the youngest qualifying winner in the history of the series.
Arand beat three-time world champion Shaun Torrente by just 0.039 seconds, clocking a best time of 40.222 seconds. Erik Stark (Team Abu Dhabi) finished third.
“This feeling is incredible! In the Q3 duel with Shaun, I realized that I could beat him – and in the end, I succeeded. I am very happy for myself and the team,” said Arand.
The Shanghai stage continues on Friday with two sprint races followed by the main race on Saturday.
Arand scored 15 points in the F1 season opener in Indonesia in August, putting him in fourth place overall behind Rusty Wyatt, Alec Weckström and Ben Jelf. The next race is in China next weekend, followed by the final stages of the season in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in November and December, respectively.
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