2012 sees the Championship start its
49th season since being recognised and sanctioned by the Union
Internationale Motonautique (UIM), the world governing body for
powerboating, and marks the 21st anniversary of the ‘modern era’ that
saw the sport return to a multiple-venue World Championship in 1992.
It
is hard to predict who will win in Qatar, or titles in 2012, but based
on the fact that Dubai’s Victory Team’s run of consecutive world crowns
is running at five, and the impressive performances by Arif Al Zafeen
and Mohammed Al Marri in the final two races of 2011 in Dubai to clinch
the team’s eleventh World title, it will take a herculean effort by
their challengers to break their vice-like grip on the Sam Griffith
Trophy.
With four-time World
Champion, Nadir Bin Hendi ‘provisionally suspended’ by the UIM, Arif Al
Zafeen will again partner Mohammed Al Marri – the duo boasting six World
titles between them – and will start as favourites and the team to beat
as Al Zafeen goes for his third straight win in Doha.
If
how to beat Victory is at the top of the teams’ ‘most wanted’ list, the
on-going situation facing officials is the cry by some teams for
greater parity between the screeching V12s and the thunderous V8s.
In
2011 the mighty V12 was all-conquering, a quartet of outfits running
V12s leading home a trio of those opting for the V8s in the title race,
with the V8 runners managing just three podium appearances – one of
those upgraded to a win courtesy of a Victory DQ.
To
ease the situation, officials have upped the rpm for the Mercury 850Sci
V8 supercharged engines to 6350rpm from 6100rpm with modifications to
the torque/power curve.
Of the
eight challengers who will line up against Victory, the most fancied
challengers could be the two-boat assault of the silver-and-crimson-clad
Spirit of Qatar Team.
Their
much-anticipated return to racing last year was a success, with Sheikh
Hassan and Steve Curtis winning their first race together in Class 1
since teaming up in 2008 and taking the European title, whilst teammates
Ali Al Neama and Matteo Nicolini took a win in Italy and the Edox Pole
Position Championship – the team finishing second and third overall in
the title race.
The team and its
current line-up has had mixed success in Doha since Qatar hosted its
first Class 1 Grand Prix in 2002; Sheikh Hassan and Nicolini have
enjoyed multiple podium finishes but a win has eluded both - the team’s
only win on home waters was in 2006 courtesy of Abdullah Al Sulaiti and
Lino di Biase - whilst Curtis, as a rival with Spirit of Norway, has won
five times in Qatar.
DAC Racing
field a new line up in the V8 Mercury-powered Poliform with Guido
Cappellini – now recovered from a broken ankle sustained in a road
accident in Italy last month – joined by Class 1 debutant, Italian Gian
Maria Gabbiani, moving over from four-wheel competition and up from
endurance racing in the Italian powerboat championship.
Cappellini’s
credentials as a powerboat racer speak for themselves; he has won the
F1H2O World title ten times, and since switching into Class 1 in 2010
has made the podium several times, and on his home waters of Lake Como
at the Italian Grand Prix last year he grabbed his first win.
Norway
rolls out two teams; a last gasp reshuffle at Welmax Offshore Racing
has reversed plans laid out in 2011 to run a two-boat line-up, which
would have seen newcomer William Nocker teaming-up with 2008 European
Champion Jorn Tandberg. Instead, the team has announced they will run
one outfit in Qatar with Norwegian throttleman Bjorge Jackobsen joined
in the cockpit of the Mercury V8-powered Maritimo-designed Welmax, by
Brazilian Paul Gaiser – the duo mustering 23 starts collectively, with
Gaiser taking his only podium in Abu Dhabi in 2010.
Fellow
Norwegian outfit, Zabo Racing, will be hoping to start their season
where they left off in 2011, with Ugur Isik and race and pole position
winner Christian Zaborowski producing a strong showing to put Relekta on
the podium in Dubai.
Fendi
Racing will be looking to put behind them a frustrating 2011; a
promising start with a podium was soon forgotten as their new
Outerlimits hull-V8 engine package failed to deliver and they fared
little better with the switch to SCAM V12s, and have confirmed a third
switch of engines, opting to run Sterling V8s in 2012.
Team
owner-driver Luca Formilli Fendi will again partner the experienced
stick-man Giovanni Carpitella, the pair grabbing two podiums from their
ten starts together since forming up in 2010 - Carpitella taking his two
Grand Prix wins in Uddevalla, Sweden.
Team
Abu Dhabi has confirmed driver Rashed Al Tayer and throttleman Majed Al
Mansoori; the Emirati duo paired twice last year, teaming-up for the
first time in the BMW Norwegian Grand Prix in Arendal and again at the
end of the year in Dubai, grabbing their first podium together in race
2, with Team Abu Dhabi finishing fourth overall in the title race.
Italian
outfit Team D’Alessio-SCAM will be starting their first full season in
Class 1 after joining the Championship midway through last year at the
Italian Grand Prix. But with throttleman Luca Nicolini side-lined
through injury, there is an eleventh hour call up for Norway’s Pal Virik
Nilsen, with former F1H2O star Massimo Roggiero taking the wheel to
make his Class 1 debut.
Teams
take to the water for the first of three official practice sessions on
Wednesday, 14 March followed by official qualifying in the Edox Pole
Position at 14:30hrs.
Race 1 of the Pearl Qatar Grand Prix starts at 15:00hrs on Thursday with race 2 at 15:00hrs on Saturday, 17 March.
www.class-1.com
www.class-1.com
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