Sail-World.com : Class 1 Powerboat Norwegian Grand Prix - Victory team delivers
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Class 1 Powerboat Norwegian Grand Prix - Victory team delivers |
BMW Norwegian Grand Prix, Class 1 Powerboat World Championship.
Dubai’s Victory Team produced a racing master-class in race 2, with Fazza 3 and Fazza 1 finishing first and third, and the newest design to emerge from the Victory stable, Spirit of Dubai, finishing second.
After a spectacular and dramatic start, which saw home favourites Welmax win the drag-race to the first turn and lead the race for a lap-and-a-half and Fazza 1 almost flip before the first turn, a series of breakdowns reduced the numbers on the water to leave the Fazza crews and Spirit of Dubai out on their own to race for the podium places.
For the second time in two Grands Prix the defending World Champions, Arif Al Zafeen and Nadir Bin Hendi, completed the win-double to take their eighth consecutive race win and extend their points lead in the Championship.
After passing the stationary Welmax on lap 2 they were able to cruise to the finish, to complete the 68.12Nm race in 43mins 23.23secs at an average speed of 173.15km/h. 'We were not surprised by Welmax’s pace, we know they are fast and they showed that today. We were side-by-side at the start and then they went away like a rocket,' said Bin Hendi. 'We were able to stay with them and make up some time in the turns and were in touch when they had a problem. Conditions at the far end of the course were quite rough and there were some big swells which were hard to see. We got caught out once or twice but then eased off a little.'
 | Dubai’s Team Victory - BMW Norwegian Grand Prix - http://www.rc44.com!©_Raffaello_Bastiani_- RC44 Class Association |
Giovanni Carpitella and Giorgio Manuzzi rounded off their impressive weekend with a third podium in Spirit of Dubai, splitting the two Fazza crews to finish in second place. 'For sure we are satisfied,' said Italian throttleman, Carpitella. 'This is the first time we use this boat and it is an unbelievable result for us. I am very happy to use this boat and engine combination. We start very well but both Mercury boats were very fast. We stay on the line we gave Fazza 3 some space and stayed in third place at the turn. We completed the race very easily and were in control of our position and didn’t want to push too hard or damage the boat before the next race.
'It is an unbelievable boat. I think one or two things to do still, but for the first race weekend – perfect.'
After missing out yesterday, Fazza 1’s Mohammed Al Marri and Abdullah Al Mehairbi bounced back to take their third podium of the year, finishing third, but first had to survive a scare at the start when the front-end went up in the wake of Relekta. 'We got caught in the wake of 91 and up she went. But I managed to trim-down and down she came, said Al Marri. 'We changed our set-up before the race but this didn’t help us, and then we had some problems with the steering and in the end I had to use the throttles to help Abdullah turn the boat.'
For Jorn Tandberg and Kolbjorn Selmer, it was a case of what might have been! After giving away 30-seconds at the start of race 1, a change of propellers and a different ratio setting gave them the advantage today, albeit momentarily, before they broke their rudder after crashing down heavily on the side of the boat in rough water. 'The start was great but maybe we were pushing a little too hard.' said Tandberg.
For Zabo Racing’s Christian Zaborowski and Paul Gaiser the promising start to their season was halted on lap 5 when a broken compressor belt ended Relekta’s race, with Giorgioffshore’s poor weekend compounded when a broken prop-shaft ended theirs.
Today’s win, a sixteenth for Al Zafeen and Bin Hendi, increases their lead in the title race and puts them 29-points clear of the their team-mates and extends Victory team’s winning streak to 13-races.
Class 1 now heads to Uddevalla for the Swedish Grand Prix, 6-8 August.
BMW Norwegian Grand Prix, Race 2 - Results
1. Fazza 3 - A Al Zafeen (UAE) / N Bin Hendi (UAE) 00.43.23,23
2. Spirit of Dubai – G Manuzzi (SMR) / G Carpitella (ITA) + 00.03,14
3. Fazza 1 - A Al Mehairbi (UAE) / M Al Marri (UAE) + 02.37,11
4. Relekta - P Gaiser (BRA) / C Zaborowski (NOR) dnf
5. Welmax - K Selmer (NOR) / J Tandberg (NOR) dnf
6. Primatist - G Cappellini (ITA) / N Giorgi (ITA) dnf
http://www.class-1.com/
by Class One Share
8:20 PM Sun 18 Jul 2010 GMT
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