Arand To Start From The Back
Stefan Arand’s weekend of heartbreak continues as the Sharjah Team has been forced to change his engine, relegating the youngest-ever F1H2O pole-sitter to 19th position for this afternoon’s Shanghai Grand Prix.
The Estonian, who made history on Friday by claiming pole position at just 23 years old, will now start from 19th after the team elected to fit a fresh power unit following his devastating Sprint Race 1 retirement.
Blown Piston Ends Dream Weekend
Arand had been leading Sprint Race 1 comfortably when his engine lost power due to blowing a piston with just four laps remaining, handing victory to Jonas Andersson and demoting the youngster to third place.
Under F1H2O regulations, changing the engine results in an automatic relegation to the back of the grid, regardless of qualifying position. The penalty sees Arand drop from pole to 19th, promoting Shaun Torrente to pole position.
Shanghai Grand Prix Starting Grid
- Shaun Torrente
- Erik Stark
- Grant Trask
- Jonas Andersson
- Rusty Wyatt
- Alec Weckström
- Kyle Maskall
- Ben Jelf
- Sami Seliö
- Ferdinand Zandbergen
- Damon Cohen
- Alberto Comparato
- Bartek Marszalek
- Peter Morin
- Mansoor Al Mansoori
- Marit Strømøy
- Cédric Deguisne
- Duarte Benavente
- Stefan Arand
- Alexandre Bourgeot

John Moore has a longstanding involvement in event organisation and powerboat racing journalism. He organised the historic Cowes–Torquay–Cowes races between 2010 and 2013 and was actively involved with British offshore racing from 2017 until 2025.
In 2017, Moore founded Powerboat Racing World, a digital platform providing global powerboat racing news, insights, and event coverage.
He is now Editor of Powerboat.News, continuing to contribute to the sport’s media landscape with in-depth reporting and analysis.