Alec Weckstrom claimed the first pole position of his career at the Grand Prix of Shanghai-China, topping a tense qualifying day for round three of the 2026 UIM F1H2O World Championship.
The Victory Team driver's Q3 lap of 43.986 seconds was the only time of the weekend so far to dip below the 44 second mark, enough to hold off a challenge from team mate and reigning World Champion Shaun Torrente.
Qualifying began with Erik Stark setting the pace in Q1, improving to a 45.700 second lap before Torrente went quicker still with a 45.489. It was Stefan Arand who eventually set the benchmark, a 45.362 second lap on his thirteenth attempt that nobody beat for the remainder of the session.
Further down the order, the fight to avoid the Q1 cutoff was fierce. Marit Stromoy, Rashed Al Qemzi, Duarte Benavente, Jonas Andersson and Cédric Deguisne all found themselves outside the top twelve, along with Bartek Marszalek, who didn't start after flipping his boat in the morning's Free Practice. Andersson, last year's Shanghai Grand Prix winner, managed only two laps before engine trouble forced him back to the pontoon, leaving him with a tough task to defend his Shanghai success this weekend.
Stromoy moved up to eleventh on her sixteenth lap, pushing Rusty Wyatt into the red zone. With seconds remaining, Al Qemzi snatched the final Q2 spot with a 46.650 second lap, relegating Ben Jelf, who couldn't complete a last lap to respond, out of contention alongside Wyatt, Benavente, Deguisne, Andersson and Marszalek.
Q2 saw Torrente briefly lead with a 44.939 second lap before Weckstrom beat it by 0.265 seconds and held top spot for the rest of the session. Al Qemzi faced more trouble when his Team Abu Dhabi boat stopped on the water with little over eight minutes remaining, dropping him to sixth after Grant Trask moved the Australian up to third. Stefan Hagin's late lap pushed Al Qemzi into the drop zone, and although the Emirati got his boat restarted with just over two minutes left, he couldn't recover in time. Stark, who had topped Q1, also fell short in a late push, managing only eighth with a 45.620 second lap. Alberto Comparato, Stark, Al Qemzi, Alexandre Bourgeot, Brent Dillard and Stromoy all missed the cut for Q3.
In the final session, Weckstrom immediately set the pace with a 44.180 second opening lap. Arand briefly moved into second, 0.309 seconds adrift, before improving to 44.321 on his next lap, still short of Weckstrom's time. Torrente came closest of all, missing Weckstrom's benchmark by just 0.013 seconds on his sixth lap to take second from Arand. Weckstrom responded by lowering his own mark to 43.986 seconds, sealing his maiden pole position ahead of Sunday's Grand Prix.
Qualifying result (top six):
1. Alec Weckstrom 2. Shaun Torrente 3. Stefan Arand 4. Sami Selio 5. Grant Trask 6. Stefan Hagin
