KHALID ABDULLAH AL-KUWARI SET TO REPRESENT QATAR IN 2011 F1 NATIONS CUP CHAMPIONSHIP

27.03.2011 / Doha - Abu Dhabi - Cairo /

The Qatar Marine Sports Federation (QMSF) has announced that 32-year-old Khalid Abdullah Al-Kuwari will join Khalid Saleh Al-Shamlan to represent the State of Qatar in the inaugural F1 Nations Cup Championship, a brand new international power boating discipline.

Fifteen drivers from six countries have registered for the new series so far and Al-Kuwari is delighted to be representing the QMSF in the competition alongside Al-Shamlan against other drivers from Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Brunei and South Africa.

“Khalid Abdullah Al-Kuwari will team up with Khalid Saleh Al-Shamlan for us in the Nations Cup,” enthused Khalid Bin Arhama Al-Kuwari, head of formula racing at the Qatar Marine Sports Federation (QMSF), which runs under the presidency of His Excellency Sheikh Hassan bin Jabor Al-Thani.

“He has a strong background in jetski racing and was always on the podium.
He did two days of training last week in the Nations Cup boat in Abu Dhabi with the American coach Scott Gillman. I will train him more in Doha or Abu Dhabi before the boats are shipped to China for the first race in May. We are looking forward to this new challenge and it will support our goal of having Qatari racers in F1 in the future.”

“I am proud and delighted to be representing my country in this exciting new racing series,” said Khalid Abdullah Al-Kuwari. Al-Shamlan is also representing the QMSF in the UIM F4-S Championship this season and will take part in the third and fourth rounds of that series in Portugal in May.

The F1 Nations Cup Championship was devised by H20 Racing’s Nicolo di San Germano, the promoter of the UIM F1 H20 Championship, and has been planned to place the emphasis on drive ability and team and country participation.

Drivers will compete in identical stock single-seater boats fitted with identical 2.5-litre, 225hp Mercury Optimax engines and supplied propellers.
Germano has already had interest from Australia, China and the USA in the series and hopes to attract at least 20 drivers from 10 countries.

Al-Kuwari and Al-Shamlan will face fierce competition in the provisional five-race series, which is set to start in China on May 1st and finish in Singapore in November.

Yousif Al-Rubaian and Mohammed Al-Awadhi will represent Kuwait and Naeem Al-Kedawi, Saud Abdulaziz Ahmad and Mohammed Al-Shalabi are registered with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s team. The experienced Rashid Al-Tayer and Majed Al-Mansoori and rookie Faleh Al-Mansouri represent the UAE, alongside other racers from Brunei and South Africa.

TS