Ten
boats will line up off Lulu Island for next week's Abu Dhabi Grand
Prix, 13-15 April, round 1 of the UIM Class 1 World Powerboat
Championship, for what promises to be an intriguing season-opener.
A
raft of new technical rulings, a promise of strict enforcement of
regulations, new teams and driver line-ups and the return of Spirit of
Qatar all add spice to a season where the form book of previous years
may have little bearing.
The
season-opener sees the Class 1 Championship fielding one of its most
competitive fleets in recent years; three Middle East teams take on six
from Europe, seven of the ten outfits opting to run V12 power-plants
over V8, with four World Champions lining-up in Abu Dhabi.
Reverting
to running in the more familiar blue colours of Victory Team, Arif Al
Zafeen and Nadir bin Hendi shoulder full responsibility as the Dubai
team's sole entry.
The Champions
have dominated the last two seasons and set-out in defence of their
World, European and Middle East titles looking to add to their 21
career-wins apiece as they start their campaign to try to lift an
eleventh world title for the team.
Team
Abu Dhabi will be hoping to benefit from home advantage, with Emirati
Rashed Al Tayer and American race-ace, John Tomlinson, who won the World
and European titles in 1997, looking to kick-start their season with a
repeat of last year's win on home waters.
Lining
up in Class 1 for the first time in 18 months, Spirit of Qatar fields a
two-boat attack; Sheikh Hassan bin Jabor Al-Thani and eight-times World
Champion Steve Curtis lead the team's assault as the Qatari outfit bids
for its first World crown, and they in turn look for their first win in
Class 1 since teaming-up in 2008. Matteo Nicolini, who won the European
title alongside Sheikh Hassan in 2005 and grabbed the team's last win
in the championship in Dubai in 2008, partners Class 1 rookie, Ali Al
Neama. Spirit of Qatar 95 and 96 will both run Skema-Lamborghini V12s.
Norwegian hopes for success hang with Welmax and Relekta - both running Mercury-Class 1 V8s.
Welmax's
all-Norwegian partnership of Kolbjorn Selmer and Jorn Tandberg will be
aiming for the perfect start to the defence of their Edox Pole Position
crown, and intent on taking their first outright race-win together to
add to their ten podium finishes and five pole position wins since
joining forces in 2009.
A revised
driver line-up sees Zabo Racing, who made their championship debut in
Norway last season, taking their first podium in Abu Dhabi, bring in
Turkish driver Ugur Isik, back racing in Class 1 for the first time in
over a decade, to partner race and pole position winner Christian
Zaborowski in Relekta.
Of the three all-Italian pairings, two are new team entries but all three are experienced partnerships.
Fendi
Racing's Luca Formilli Fendi and Giovanni Carpitella - a double race
winner in 2010 - have put their plans to run their new Outerlimits
boat-engine package on hold for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and will unveil
it in Norway, and run a Michael Peters-designed Victory built hull with
Victory V12 engines.
GiorgiOffshore
stay with the same boat-engine package and driver line-up that ended
2010, but with Nicola Giorgi, set to start his 75th Grand Prix, behind
the wheel and Tomaso Polli taking the throttles in the Victory built,
SCAM-Lamborghini powered MITI Tech Power.
DAC
Racing's Guido Cappellini and Giampaolo Montavoci maintain their
partnership that began in Brazil last year with a podium and ended the
year with a podium, running a Michael Peters-designed Tencara powered by
Mercury-Class 1 V8s.
Plymouth
based Chris Parsonage Racing also run a new driver line-up with Italian
Giorgio Manuzzi starting a fifth term in Class 1 alongside his former
teammate at Maritimo Racing, Norway's Pål Virik Nilsen.
The
Abu Dhabi Grand Prix gets underway with first practice on Wednesday
afternoon. A second practice on Thursday morning is immediately followed
by qualifying in the Edox Pole Position with race 1 in the afternoon. A
final practice session on Friday morning is followed by race 2.
Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Abu Dhabi - UAE
Wednesday, 13 April
12.30 drivers course viewing on Class 1 rib
14.00-16.00 official practice
Thursday, 14 April
09.30-10.00 official practice
10.15-11.30 Edox Pole Position
15.30 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - race 1
Friday, 15 April
09.30-11.00 official practice
15.30 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - race 2
Hiç yorum yok:
Yorum Gönder