Class 1 Egyptian Grand Prix

[Ben Mazur]

Was a bit rough for the pole position runs. Here are the results.

1 Spirit of Norway 10
2 Qatar 96
3 Jotun 90
4 Foresti & Suardi 8
5 Victory 77
6 Qatar 95
7 Negotiator 50
8 Spirit of Norway 20
9 Victory 7
10 Seveneleven
11 Fainplast 2

[Ben Mazur]

Photography by Raffaello Bastiani and Simon Palfrader.

[shifter]

I see that fainplast is in class 1, Is that the same fainplast that was racing p1?

pat W

SPIRIT OF NORWAY ON POLE POSITION FOR EGYPTIAN GRAND PRIX

Friday, 26 October: Spirit of Norway’s Bjorn Gjelsten and Steve Curtis overcame the roughest conditions of the season so far to produce an extraordinary lap in today’s qualifying session for Saturday’s Egyptian Grand Prix, round 5 of the WPPA Class 1 World Powerboat Championship, to maintain their unbeaten record in the Edox Pole Position Championship, with their fourth win of the season.

With the teams facing extreme conditions that forced the race officials to cancel the morning’s practice session and then shorten the course, Gjelsten and Curtis posted a time that left their rivals bewildered.

But for Giampaolo Montavoci and Marco Pennesi in Foresti & Suardi, it was a case of one lap too many. After producing their best qualifying performance this season, setting the fourth fastest time, the Italian duo crashed on their final run. "We were running very well, especially on the outside leg. Then we suddenly caught a big wave, the boat went straight up and when she came down we thought we had saved it, but then over we went. It is not possible to repair in time for the race tomorrow but hopefully in time for Qatar." said a disappointed Montavoci.

Spirit of Norway was the first out to take on the extreme seas and set a time of 3mins 23.71secs, but then saw their Norwegian rivals Jotun and then Qatar 96 go quicker. After making a change to their set-up, Curtis and Gjelsten came back out for one more lap and post the fastest time, 3mins 05.43secs, eight seconds quicker than Qatar 96, with Jotun, third quickest. "I think we made a point out there today," said Gjelsten. "Steve is a fantastic throttleman, especially in conditions like this. I picked some good lines out there and the coordination between us was excellent. We used the first lap as a sighting lap, we knew what adjustments we had to make and were confident that in the rough we would be quickest."

Second quickest, producing their best Pole Position result of the season, and crucially finishing ahead of championship rivals, Victory77, was Sheikh Hassan and Matteo Nicolini in Qatar 96. "The conditions were very tricky, but we are very pleased with second position and we fulfilled the main objective of staying well ahead of Victory 77," said Sheikh Hassan. "We also showed that our boat is quicker than Victory and that bodes well for the race on Saturday and we need to finish ahead of them to close the gap in the championship."

Also producing an impressive showing today and their best qualifying run of the year was Jotun’s Jorn Tandberg and Christian Zaborowski, going third quickest. "I am very happy with today’s time but it was very tough out there," said Tandberg. "I think if the conditions remain the same tomorrow we have a very good set-up, but in conditions like this you need some luck. The sea is hard to read and you just hope not to catch a big wave."

For Victory 77, fifth place was their first time this season outside the top three, but like Qatar 95, in sixth place, both crews erred on the side of caution, choosing not to push too hard and risk damaging the boats. "There was nothing to be gained by pushing in conditions like this. Tomorrow will be a long race and a bit of a lottery. We will see what happens." commented Sanchez.

With both Spirit of Norway and Qatar 96 lining up ahead of the championship leader’s, Victory 77, tomorrow’s Egyptian Grand Prix promises to be an enthralling and demanding race with conditions expected to be as rough as today and the seas as unpredictable.

EDOX POLE POSITION – round 4
1. Spirit of Norway 10 – B Gjelsten (NOR)/S Curtis (GB) – 3m 05.43s
2. Qatar 96 – H Al Thani (QAT)/M Nicolini (ITA) – 3m 13.96s
3. Jotun 90 – C Zaborowski (NOR)/J Tandberg (NOR) - 3m 16.29s
4. Foresti & Suardi 8 – M Pennesi (ITA)/G Montavoci (ITA) – 3m 18.43s
5. Victory 77 – A Al Zafeen(UAE)/JM Sanchez (FR) – 3m 23.96s
6. Qatar 95 – A Al Sulaiti (QAT)/L Nicolini (ITA) – 3m 26.79s
7. Negotiator 50 – B Eker (NOR)/C Parsonage (GB) – 3m 34.35s
8. Spirit of Norway 20 – T Barry-Cotter (AUS)/P Nilsen (NOR) – 3m 38.90s
9. Victory 7 – T Al Sayed (UAE)/N Hendi (UAE) – 3m 40.15s
10. SeveneleveN 18 – G Manuzzi (ITA)/N Giorgi (ITA) – 4m 45.25s
11. Fainplast 2 – K Selmer (NOR)/M Esperto (ITA) – 4m 47.79s

EDOX POLE POSITION CHAMPIONSHIP – after round 4 of 7
1. Spirit of Norway 10 – B Gjelsten (NOR)/S Curtis (GB) – 80pts
2. Victory 77 – A Al Zafeen(UAE)/JM Sanchez (FR) – 49pts
3. Qatar 96 – H Al Thani (QAT)/M Nicolini (ITA) – 45pts
4. Victory 7 – A Al Sayed (UAE)/N Hendi (UAE) – 34pts
5. Jotun 90 – C Zaborowski (NOR)/J Tandberg (NOR) 31pts
6. Qatar 95 – A Al Sulaiti (QAT)/L Nicolini (ITA) – 24pts
7. Foresti & Suardi 8 – M Pennesi (ITA)/G Montavoci (ITA) – 18pts
8. Spirit of Norway 20 – T Barry-Cotter (AUS)/P Nilsen (NOR) – 15pts
9. Negotiator 50 – B Eker (NOR)/C Parsonage (GB) – 8pts
10. SeveneleveN 18 – T Polli (ITA)/N Giorgi (ITA) – 5pts
11. Fainplast 2 – K Selmer (NOR)/M Esperto (ITa) – 2pts

[Rupert Munro]

I see that fainplast is in class 1, Is that the same fainplast that was racing p1?

No the p1 fainplast is white and a V hull, this one is yellow and a Cat :)

[Ben Mazur]

Marco Pennesi, Fainplast 2's driver just so happens to own Metamarine who built the Fainplast P1 boat.

I guess he brought the Fainplast sponsorship with him into Class 1.

[Ben Mazur]

1 Spirit of Norway 10
2 Qatar 96
3 Victory 77

[SHARKEYMARINE]

Thanks for taking the time to post the pics Ben !

It is truely appreciated ! :cool:

[Rupert Munro]

Really nice set of pics :)

[shifter]

thanks for the info I was wondering what happened to them after they stopped racing p1. Will they be back in p1 next year or is the class still favoring gas boats?

pat W

SPIRIT OF NORWAY WIN IN EGYPT

Saturday, 27 October: Spirit of Norway’s Bjorn Gjelsten and Steve Curtis produced their second impressive performance of the weekend to win today’s Egyptian Grand Prix and keep their world title hopes alive, with Qatar 96, second and the championship leader’s, Victory 77 in third.

With the course shortened to 57.59Nm due to the extreme conditions, Spirit of Norway took full advantage of starting from pole position, hitting the front from the green flag and gradually building an impressive lead over their main rivals in the championship race, Qatar 96 and Victory77, and going on to take the chequered flag and win by 30 seconds. "It was pretty rough out there today but we had a very good run and this was the result we needed," said Gjelsten. "All weekend our set-up has been good and we knew we would be hard to beat in these conditions. Steve did another great job on the throttles, we were right on the buoys at each turn and we soon built a comfortable lead. The top four or five boats are all pretty similar in terms of performance, but today was more about the pilots than anything else. Now we have to go to the next race in Doha and do the same."

Qatar 96 produced another strong showing after qualifying second fastest on Friday, and second place for Sheikh Hassan and Matteo Nicolini achieved their main target of reducing the gap to the championship leader’s. "We made a good start and managed to get a good lead over Victory 77. Staying ahead was the goal but it is not easy when you are hitting waves and the boat is being thrown around at speed. Spirit had good acceleration and a good pace today, but our goal was to close the gap on Victory 77 which we have and now we can take the fight to Doha where we must finish well and hope that 77 is not on the podium."

Third place for Victory 77 was a gutsy performance by Al Zafeen and Jean Marc Sanchez after throttleman Sanchez suffered a severe nose bleed at the start of the race and struggled throughout. "Right at the start we lost communications and then I had another nose bleed which didn’t stop," said an exhausted Sanchez. "All I could was to swallow the blood but this made me choke and I became very dehydrated. The last six laps were a nightmare. I am happy we could finish the race. It was tough out there."

After producing their best showing in qualifying, Chris Parsonage and Bard Eker produced their best result of the season bringing Negotiator home in fourth place, ahead of an excellent result for Giampaolo Montavoci, who switched into his second boat after crashing in qualifying, to partner Kolbjorn Selmer. Jorn Tandberg and Christian Zaborowski completed the top six, but will be disappointed with the result after running strongly in fourth and pushing Victory 77 for most the race, before technical problems dropped them down the field.

There was also disappointment also for Qatar 95, who after starting from sixth position, moved up to fourth and was closing in on third place when a broken supercharger belt ended their race. After running in fifth place, Spirit of Norway 20’s race ended when a water hose broke with SeveneleveN and Victory 7 also failing to finish due to technical problems.

The teams now head to Doha in two weeks time for the Qatar Grand Prix, and with 24 points separating the top three, the title race looks set to go down to the final two races in Dubai.

EGYPTIAN GRAND PRIX - RESULT
1. Spirit of Norway 10 – B Gjelsten (NOR)/S Curtis (GB)
2. Qatar 96 – H Al Thani (QAT)/M Nicolini (ITA) + 00.30,45
3. Victory 77 – A Al Zafeen(UAE)/JM Sanchez (FR) + 00.41,67
4. Negotiator 50 – B Eker (NOR)/C Parsonage (GB) + 1 lap
5. Foresti & Suardi 8 – K Selmer (NOR)/G Montavoci (ITA) + 2 laps
6. Jotun 90 – C Zaborowski (NOR)/J Tandberg (NOR) + 3 laps
Spirit of Norway 20 – T Barry-Cotter (AUS)/P Nilsen (NOR) dnf
Qatar 95 – A Al Sulaiti (QAT)/L Nicolini (ITA) dnf
SeveneleveN 18 – G Manuzzi (ITA)/N Giorgi (ITA) dnf
Victory 7 – T Al Sayed (UAE)/N B Hendi (UAE) – dnf
Fainplast 2 – M Pennesi (ITA)/M Esperto (ITA) – dns

WPPA CLASS 1 WORLD POWERBOAT CHAMPIONSHIP – after round 5 of 8
1. Victory 77 – A Al Zafeen(UAE)/JM Sanchez (FR) – 93pts
2. Qatar 96 – H Al Thani (QAT)/M Nicolini (ITA) – 75pts
3. Spirit of Norway 10 – B Gjelsten (NOR)/S Curtis (GB) – 69pts
4. Victory 7 – T Al Sayed (UAE)/N B Hendi (UAE) – 44pts
5. Qatar 95 – A Al Sulaiti (QAT)/L Nicolini (ITA) – 36pts
6. Foresti & Suardi 8 – M Pennesi (ITA)/G Montavoci (ITA) – 33pts
7. Negotiator 50 – B Eker (NOR)/C Parsonage (GB) – 23pts
8. Spirit of Norway 20 – T Barry-Cotter (AUS)/P Nilsen (NOR) – 20pts
9. SeveneleveN 18 – T Polli (ITA)/N Giorgi (ITA) – 14pts
10. Jotun 90 – C Zaborowski (NOR)/J Tandberg (NOR) - 12pts
11. Fainplast 2 – K Selmer (NOR)/M Esperto (ITA) – 5pts

[Ben Mazur]

thanks for the info I was wondering what happened to them after they stopped racing p1. Will they be back in p1 next year or is the class still favoring gas boats?

pat W



Dragon might know.

[Ben Mazur]

Yesterday

[Ben Mazur]

Still a little rough

[Ben Mazur]

Photo credits, Simon Palfrader and Rafaello Bastiani