Maidstone racer Ben Jelf returned to China for the second time this month to earn a seventh-placed finish at the F1H2O World Championship New Development Grand Prix of Zhengzhou.

After an eighth spot in Shanghai two weeks earlier, 24-year-old Jelf and the F1 Atlantic team were back in China and hungry for more.

Jelf missed the top-12 spots in qualifying by just 0.09sec and in the afternoon sprint races he would compete in race one, with Portuguese team-mate Duarte Benavente lining-up in race two.

Jelf ran as high as third before he blew a piston just five laps from the end and was forced to watch the dying seconds of the race from inside his cockpit.

Hard work from the team meant their other engine was ready for Saturday morning’s warm-up session and then the Grand Prix race, where Jelf would start 16th following the engine change.

Just 16 boats made their way out for the start of the race and before the first full lap had been completed three were lost to the conditions. Jelf had worked his way up several positions but with the restart was forced to once more return to the back of the grid.

The action got back under way under a yellow flag and Jelf battled throughout the 32-lap race to clinch that seventh place and, more importantly, vital championship points.

Benavente took the chequered flag in eighth, boosting the F1 Atlantic team into seventh in the standings, with Jelf joint-ninth in the championship table.

“Qualifying didn’t go our way but, also, blowing a piston meant a lot of hard work for the team and saw me placed at the back of the grid,” he said.

“I have to thank my team and sponsors for getting me back on the water for the Grand Prix race.

“At the beginning of the race, the conditions were terrible but my team just told me to drive how I felt safe. Their belief in me is immeasurable.

“To bring the boat home in seventh is a fantastic achievement.

“We tried some different things this weekend and proved the pace is there so, now, we turn our attention to Sharjah [United Arab Emirates] in seven weeks’ time and, hopefully, I can reward the team with a podium finish.”