Carella was deprived a 13th career win by double world champion, Philippe Chiappe. Carella eventually finished fifth behind the Frenchman, Sami Selio, Shaun Torrente and Team Sweden’s Jonas Andersson after a niggling technical issue cost him valuable time.

Team-mate Thani Al Qamzi finished seventh after being passed by Swede Erik Stark in the closing minutes.

The result means CTIC China Team moves one point ahead of Team Abu Dhabi in the UIM F1 H2O Teams’ Championship.

Team Abu Dhabi’s Rashed Al Qamzi and Mohammed Al Mehairbi qualified second and third for the second of the weekend’s UIM F4-S Trophy races.

Al Qamzi shadowed Kalle Viippo throughout to finish second and maintain his five-point series lead, but technical issues dropped Al Mehairbi to the rear of the field.

Italian Carella lined up for his 41st career Grand Prix start in third, while an engine issue for Ahmed Al Hameli in Q2 lifted Al Qamzi to eighth. Carella stormed into the lead but Chiappe snatched the lead on lap 16 and began to pull away in the hot conditions.

He continued to stretch his advantage as Carella began to slow markedly with technical issues, eventually ceding second place to Selio, as Torrente moved up to third and Andersson also disposed of Carella to take fourth.

Chiappe’s triumph saw him storm back into title contention.