Victory Team Sweep Shanghai Sprints as Torrente Edges Clear of Arand

Victory Team won both sprint races at the Grand Prix of Shanghai on Sunday. Alec Weckström followed his first career pole with victory in Sprint Race 1, and Shaun Torrente beat title rival Stefan Arand in Sprint Race 2 to stretch his championship lead to five points heading into Monday’s Grand Prix.

Sprint Race 2

Torrente and Arand started side by side on the front row. Torrente kept Arand around three seconds behind him and won by 3.787 seconds, taking 10 points to Arand’s nine.

“A three-second gap is fine. It’s more than comfortable, especially with the conditions today,” Torrente said. “What I lack in raw pace now, I make up for with a little bit of experience. We pretty much maximised the day points-wise, and we’re in a great position for tomorrow. We just have to finish it off.”

Torrente, who retires at the end of the season, said the boat was far better balanced than when Victory Team arrived in Shanghai last year, and that he had enjoyed what he expects to be the second-last qualifying session of his career.

“I only have one more qualifying left in my career, so I enjoyed today.”

Stefan Hagin took third for China CTIC Team, 29.930 seconds back, in his third Grand Prix weekend. Rusty Wyatt finished fourth for Sharjah Team after his engine problem in qualifying, ahead of Alberto Comparato. Brent Dillard and Duarte Benavente were both lapped, Alexandre Bourgeot retired after five laps, and Bartek Marszalek did not start after flipping in the first free practice session.

Sprint Race 1

Weckström led Sprint Race 1 from pole and won by 5.497 seconds from Sharjah Team’s Grant Trask, with Sami Selio third for Comparato Racing. It was the second sprint win of his career.

“We push each other forward,” Weckström said of his partnership with Torrente. “When we have good laps, like in FP2, we can overlay them on each other and see who’s quicker where, and learn from that.”

Jonas Andersson recovered from his Q1 engine failure to finish fourth from eighth on the sprint grid. He nearly blew over on the final lap while chasing Selio and crossed the line 1.042 seconds behind him. Marit Strømøy was fifth, Ben Jelf sixth and Cédric Deguisne seventh, a lap down.

It was another difficult race for Team Abu Dhabi. Erik Stark retired after three laps and Rashed Al Qemzi after 10, following technical problems for both of them in qualifying.

Monday’s Grand Prix

Weckström starts the Grand Prix from pole with Torrente alongside him and Arand third, and made clear that the championship comes first for Victory Team.

“It’s obvious not to hit your team-mate. That’s the worst that can happen,” he said. “But of course, with Shaun leading the championship and me being quite far away, I think we’ll make sure that Shaun gets the maximum amount of points from this race, so that we secure the teams’ and drivers’ titles for Victory Team once again.”

Weckström also credited Torrente’s influence on his development.

“I also have to give Shaun some credit, because to have a teacher like him on your side when you’re a young guy, it’s quite a privilege. If you listen, you learn.”

His father, Michael Weckström, raced in F1H2O in 2002 and 2003, gaining a total of 28 places from qualifying to the finish across his four races in his rookie season.

The Grand Prix of Shanghai starts at 15:05 local time (08:05 BST) on Monday and is live in the UK on TNT Sports. Full session times are in our Grand Prix of Shanghai guide, and the grid is in our qualifying report.

Sprint Race 1 Result

Sprint Race 2 Result

Championship After the Sprints

Top 10, calculated by PBN from the official sprint results. Unofficial until confirmed by H2O Racing.