Intro:

Defending world champion Alex Carella picked up his first pole position of the year on Tuesday, as Team Qatar secured the top two spots in qualifying for the Grand Prix of China in the 2013 UIM F1 H2O World Championship.

Script:

Two-time defending World Champion Alex Carella took his first pole of the season in the third round of races of the UIM F1 H2O World Championships.

It was his second straight pole of the Grand Prix of China, and the 28-year-old Italian finished ahead of his Team Qatar team-mate Shaun Torrente.

Carella went round the two-kilometre circuit in 45.50 seconds, four-hundredths-of-a-second ahead of Torrente, for his seventh career pole.

American Torrente is the current leader in the Driver Standings with 30 points, one ahead of Sami Selio, who qualified third-fastest in China.

It was the first time this year that Selio has failed to clinch pole.

Frenchman Philippe Chiappe of the CTIC China Team will be fourth on the grid for Wednesday's (2nd October) race after he went round in 46.08 seconds in Q3.

Chiappe is currently third in the Driver Standings.

Veteran Italian Francesco Cantando, who was competing in his 18th Grand Prix in China, was fifth-fastest with a a 46.49-second lap.

Team Abu Dhabi have had a nightmare build up to this race, with both their primary boats missing the race due to the typhoon-ravaged port which meant they couldn't download their ship in time for the race weekend.

2011 Grand Prix of China winner Thani Al Qamzi managed to edge his team-mate Ahmed Al Hameli to make Q3, but Al Qamzi couldn't finish any better than sixth with his time of 47.09 seconds.