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Sail-World.com : Ahmad Al Hameli sets practice pace in Russia

Ahmad Al Hameli sets practice pace in Russia

'Al Qamzi Thani of UAE of the Abu Dhabi F1 powerboat team pictured on the Neva River in St Petersburg, Russia, venue of the UIM F1 powerboat Grand Prix, the 4th leg of the world championship series. Picture by Paul Lakatos/Idea Marketing.' U.I.M. F1 World Championship ©

Team Abu Dhabi driver Ahmad Al Hameli set the pace for the first free practice session late into the evening on Friday night getting ready for tomorrow’s ¨White Night’s¨ evening Grand Prix for the 4th Round of the 2008 U.I.M. F1 World Championship for power boating at the Grand Prix of Russia in downtown St. Petersburg on the Neva River.

The driver from Abu Dhabi set a 52.27 second lap around the 6-turn circuit and was the first of two drivers to pass an early quick time of two-time winner of this event Guido Cappellini who had it for most of the session with his Tamoil sponsored boat on top and a 53.24 second lap which was eventually good enough for 3rd quickest after the one-hour session.

¨The visability was a problem early in the session but with projected cloudy conditions tomorrow evening for the Grand Prix this shouldn’t pose a problem,¨ said the resident of Monaco Cappellini.

Late in the session Swedish driver Jonas Andersson came on strong with a great effort that moved him into the runner-up position with a 52.46 second lap which was .19 of second behind Al Hameli.

Teammate to Al Hameli, Thani Al Qamzi put his boat into 4th position with a 54.09 second time as the Team Abu Dhabi driver chases his first points of the year.

Fabio Comparato in his BABA 800 Doctor machine was 5th quickest with a 54.58 second lap with world points leader Jay Price of the Qatar Team coming in 6th with a 54.60.

Seventh was Italian Valerio Lagiannella with a 55.45 in his Rainbow Racing machine while another Italian Marco Gambi was 8th with a 55.78 with local driver Stanislav Kourtsenovsky 9th at 55.83 and French driver Philippe Dessertenne 10th in his CTIC China Team DAC with a 55.84.

Twenty-three drivers from around the world will take to the Neva River for the 6th time here at the Grand Prix of Russia in St. Petersburg. Tomorrow will feature a full day of activity including two timed sessions with the battle for pole position and the ¨Top 6 Shootout¨ determining which driver will be number one off the starting grid.

The official start for the 4th Round of the U.I.M. F1 World Championship for power boating will be at 1500 local (GMT+3) and 0700 Eastern Daylight Time on North America’s East Coast.

Al Hameli Ahmed of UAE of the Abu Dhabi. Picture by Paul Lakatos/ - U.I.M. F1 World Championship © Click Here to view large photo

by Steve Michael reporting 11:56 AM Fri 13 Jun 2008 GMT

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