With three races remaining, the teams find themselves facing the
business-end in the race for the world title, as they head to the
highly-fashionable resort of Porto Marina on Egypt’s Northern
Mediterranean coast, for the Egyptian Grand Prix, round 6 of the Class 1
World Powerboat Championship, round two of the Middle East
Championship. The newly-crowned European Champions, Inge Brigt Aarbakke
and Jorn Tandberg, currently lying in fourth place, will line up in
Jotun for the Egyptian Grand Prix on Saturday, 25 October, looking to
maintain their charge and move up in the championship standings and to
reduce their 19-point deficit in the World title race by taking their
third consecutive win of the season. Following the drama that unfolded
in the last race in Romania, just 21 points now separate the top five
boats. Championship leader Victory 1, have seen their points lead cut in
half over the last two races, and will have to put the disappointment
of losing out on the European title by one point behind them and try to
restore there winning ways. The immediate challenge to their title lead
comes from team-mates Victory 7, currently lying in second spot and 10
points adrift, who have been a constant threat all season and will be
hunting down a fifth podium finish, if not their first win of the year.
Qatar 95’s impressive second place last time out, running the Sterling
V8 power-plants for the first time, catapulted it into third place and
crucially, ahead of their team-mates, Qatar 96 who are down in fifth
place, to head the Qatar challenge for title honours. And with a raft of
modifications carried out on Qatar 95, they will be looking to go one
better and win in Porto Marina. Foresti and Suardi 8 Italian-Norwegian
pairing, are proving to be one of the season’s most reliable outfits -
taking five fifth place finishes and one sixth - and lead the race for
middle-order supremacy, with Montavoci, a rough water specialist, hoping
to spring a few surprises if they get a repeat of last year’s rough
conditions. Spaniards Spirit of Spain 88, will be aiming to step up
their levels of performance, running their Mercury-Class 1 V8-powered
Tencara, for the first time with Class 1 newcomer Mohammed Abdelkader
Ahmed making his competitive debut in the team’s second boat, Roscioli
Hotels Roma, alongside Giovanni Carpitella who makes a welcome return to
Class 1 action. Following a frustrating few races, but a solid sixth
place in Romania, SeveneleveN 18 switch back to the Giorgi V12
engine-package and is another team who will benefit in rough seas and
will be confident that they can grab another top-six finish. After
crashing out of the opening race of the season in Qatar, Chris Personage
returns to front-line action in Negotiator 50 for only his second start
of the season. But with regular driver, 2005 World Champion Bard Eker,
unavailable, Parsonage has drafted in the services of the experienced
American throttleman Billy Moore to take the sticks, with team boss
Parsonage switching to takeover driving duties, his first time behind
the wheel for two years. The return of Negotiator means that four out of
the ten boats lining up in Porto Marina will be running V8
power-plants; Negotiator and Qatar 95 with Sterlings and Spirit of Spain
and Jotun with the Mercury-Class 1. And whilst Negotiator 50 world
title aspirations ended in Doha, the likelihood is, that they will be in
the mix in the fight for the Middle East Championship, and could well
play a role in the outcome of the World Championship if they can take
points away from any of the title contenders. What no one can predict
will be the weather and conditions that teams will face in Porto Marina.
But a repeat of last years extremely rough conditions will act as great
leveller in terms of boat and pilot performance, with the 20-lap,
91.67Nm Egyptian Grand Prix shaping up to be a crucial race in the
outcome of the 2008 world title. WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP - after round 5 of 8
1. Victory 1 – 81pts
2. Victory 7 – 71pts
3. Qatar 95 – 63pts
4. Jotun 90 – 62pts
5. Qatar 96 – 60pts
6. Foresti & Suardi 8 – 41pts
7. Spirit of Spain 88 – 19pts
8. SeveneleveN 18 – 14pts
9= Negotiator 50 – 4pts
9= Qatar 9 – 4pts
(Championship points include bonus points allocated to teams for running engines for two consecutive races - one point, per engine, per race)
MIDDLE EAST CHAMPIONSHIP - after round 1 of 4
1. Victory 1 – 20pts
2. Qatar 96 – 15pts
3. Victory 7 – 12pts
4. Qatar 95 – 9pts
5. Foresti & Suardi 8 – 7pts
6. SeveneleveN 18 – 5pts
7. Negotiator 50 – 4pts
8. Jotun 90 – 0pts
EDOX POLE POSITION CHAMPIONSHIP – after round 5 of 8
1. Victory 1 – 75pts
2. Qatar 96 – 59pts
3. Jotun 90 – 51pts
4. Qatar 95 – 37pts
5. Victory 7 – 28pts
6. Foresti & Suardi 8 – 17pts
7. SeveneleveN 18 – 15pts
8. Negotiator 50 – 7pts
9. Qatar 9 – 5pts
10. Spirit of Spain 88 – 2pts
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