VIJAYAWADA: Team Amaravati’s lead driver for the upcoming F1H2O World Power Boat Racing Championship to be held from November 16 to 18, Jonas Andersson, said that Krishna river is ‘eminently suitable’ for conducting the event due to a number of logistical reasons.
In an interview with TNIE, the 44-year-old racer, who hails from Orebro County in Sweden said that the boats can run at 220 to 230 km per hour, which is the ‘average speed for power boat racing’. The record for the highest speed reached in a race stands at 256 kms per hour.
Director of Logistics for F1H2O, Marco Pietrini, said, “Jonas is right. The river serves the purpose very well. The arrangements made for the event are also on par with the international standards. From what I have seen, the race will be smooth sailing,” he said. When asked about Team Amaravati’s prospects of winning the race, Andersson and Pietrini, both showed confidence in the team. “Even though there are very good contestants, we are confident of winning,” Jonas said.
After collating the results of the first four rounds, Jonas Andersson stands at the fourth place in the competition among 19 contestants. Shaun Torrente from the United States, Thani Al Qezmi from United Arab Emirates and Erik Stark who is also from Sweden hold the first, second and third positions respectively. “They are all challenging racers to beat. I am confident though,” Andersson said.
The four previous rounds of F1H2O were conducted in Portugal, London, France and Xiangyang. “In the very first race in Portugal, my boat was broken. In London, I broke the steering part. There have been constant technical glitches, but our team managed to do well. All ten of us make a great team and we are improving with each race,” he added.
When asked whether there is a possibility of an Indian taking part in F1H2O, Andersson said, “We have plans to train someone from Andhra Pradesh. However, it will take a couple of years for a rookie to be ready for an international race. I am even thinking about starting a school to boot,” he said. He then went on to talk about his past and how he got into power boat racing. “I was a motor cross racer. Motor Cross racing is famous in Sweden. But I was not very good at it, I lost my balance and fractured my legs several times. Then I decided to quit and follow my father’s footsteps- he was a power boat racer,” he said.