Shaun Torrente claimed the first ever Grand Prix of Kyrgyzstan-Issyk-Kul win on Sunday, August 2, controlling the race from the opening holeshot through a barrel roll incident, a Yellow Flag reset, and a mechanical failure that reshuffled the top order with 20 laps remaining.
Jonas Andersson had lined up on pole, but Torrente flew off the start to narrowly take the holeshot and the lead. By the end of the first lap, he had already built a 3.382-second advantage, and he managed that margin for much of what followed.
The race's first major interruption came on lap 14, when Ben Jelf turned too hard and barrel rolled. The Yellow Flag bunched the field and wiped out Torrente's lead, which had grown to over 12 seconds, leaving 24 laps still to run.
Torrente immediately rebuilt his pace at the restart. Weckstrom briefly moved past Andersson on the outside but struggled to control his boat and fell back to third. It proved costly in a second sense too: he was penalised for failing to hold his lane and handed a one-lap penalty.
The strongest restart came from Marit Stromoy. She had already made an impression at the original start, moving from twelfth to sixth in just a few turns. At the restart she executed a double overtake of teammate Bartek Marszalek and then Stark to reach fourth, though Stark countered immediately and reclaimed the position one lap later.
The decisive moment came with 20 laps to go. Andersson suddenly lost power and dropped from second to seventh, then fell further to eighth after being passed by fellow Team Abu Dhabi driver Rashed Al Qemzi. Stark took advantage, sweeping past Weckstrom to move into second.
Sharjah Team's difficult weekend deepened on lap 18 when Stefan Arand retired with engine trouble, a hard result given his victory at the previous Grand Prix. Rusty Wyatt had at least given the team something from the opening exchanges, charging from eighteenth on the grid after an engine change to reach thirteenth by the end of lap one.
Andersson found some consolation on the final lap, using the proximity of Turn 1 and Turn 2 to outmanoeuvre Al Qemzi on the inside and recover seventh.
Torrente crossed the line to take the historic victory. Stark finished 4.730 seconds back in second, with Weckstrom third on the water. Weckstrom's penalty elevated Stromoy to the final podium position.
