Class 1 - Spirit of Norway win in Egypt

Spirit of Norway 20 produced it second impressive performance of the weekend to win the 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. Qatar 96 produced another strong showing after qualifying second fastest on Friday, and second place achieved their main target of reducing the gap to the championship leader’s. Third place for Victory 77 was a gutsy performance, after throttleman Sanchez suffered a severe nose bleed at the start of the race and struggled throughout. After producing their best showing in qualifying, Negotiator brings home a fourth place, ahead of an excellent result for Giampaolo Montavoci, who switched into his second boat after crashing in qualifying, to partner Kolbjorn Selmer. Jotun 90 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

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