Class 1 - Stresa Italy Preview

The Class 1 World Powerboat Championship makes a welcome return to racing on Italian Waters for the first time since 2002, and Dubai's Victory Team will line up on the spectacular Lake Maggiore for this weekend's (2-4 October) Italian Grand Prix in Stresa, confident that they can lift the European Championship for the sixth time in the team's glittering 16-year history, with the battle for title honours seemingly a straight in-house fight between Fazza and Victory 1. Fazza's Arif Al Zafeen who won the title in 2007 alongside Jean-Marc Sanchez and Nadir Bin Hendi, lead the World Championship standings and hold a seven-point advantage over their team-mates and main challengers in the European title race, Mohammad Al Mehairi and Sanchez. But with 40 points on offer from the two races, neither outfit will be complacent and will remember last year, when a broken propeller robbed the team of the title, losing out to Jotun by a single point in Romania. Two teams looking to spoil a 'Victory' parade are Maritimo and Welmax; the Australian-Norwegian pairing are enjoying their best season since forming their partnership in 2007. Two podiums in their last three outings have put the Championship's youngest pairing into third place, 11 points adrift in the European points table and in with a chance of upsetting the form book. Defending European Champion and Welmax throttleman, Jorn Tandberg, will not give up his crown without a fight, but knows it will take something extra special this weekend to leapfrog his rivals and move up from fourth place to retain his title. Still after a series of frustrating incidents in the first two races of the season, the all-Norwegian pairing of Tandberg and Kolbjorn Selmer have turned their season around and hit back in Mamaia Constanta to take third place in qualifying in the Edox Pole Position and two race-podiums. Wheelman Selmer is confident that with one or two adjustments to their set-up, they can carry the fight to the Victory Team. Hopes of Italian team success this weekend fall heavily on the shoulders of Foresti & Suardi-Roscioli Hotels, and Giorgioffshore with both outfits looking to produce something special in front of what will most certainly be a partisan home crowd and to claim the bragging rights as the top Italian team. Foresti & Sguardi Roscioli Hotels, sit currently fifth in the Championship standings, head the Italian challenge and will be pulling out all the stops to try to match their fourth place finish in Arendal and to maintain the team's record of consistency, scoring points finishes in all races in the last two years, as they strive to be the highest-placed Italian Team in the Championship for the sixth consecutive year. Giorgioffshore was the last Italian team to grab an all-Italian podium finish, taking third place in Dubai last year, and after an impressive showing last time out in the Romanian Grand Prix just missing out on fourth spot in Race 2 after incurring two penalty long-laps, but still taking two very solid fifth-place finishes, are optimistic they can produce their best performance of the year and will be looking to once again turn the tables on their Italian rivals. Italians, Christian Rivolta and Giovanni Carpitella, return to Class 1 action for only their second start in 2009, racing for Spanish Team C.A.M., after an impressive season-opener in Doha, Qatar, where they finished fourth. After what can only be described as a hectic return to racing in Romania for former World Champion Mohammed Al Marri alongside Abdullah Al Mehairbi, Victory 77 may well be one outfit to keep a close eye on, and as Al Marri gets used to throttleman duties, an improvement on their fourth place last time out may well be on the cards. First official practice takes place on Friday afternoon (2 October), with a one-and-a-half hour session on Saturday morning for official practice and qualifying in the Edox Pole Position, followed by race 1 in the afternoon, 49.08Nm - 11 laps, including one long lap. A third official practice session on Sunday morning will be followed by race 2 in the afternoon - with the starting line-up determined by the results of race 1 - 67.58Nm, run over 15 laps, including two long laps - with both races counting for full championship points.
CLASS 1 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP - after round 3 of 6

1. Fazza - 71pts

2. Victory 1 - 56pts

3. Maritimo 11 - 40pts

4. Welmax - 38pts

5. Foresti & Suardi-Roscioli Hotels - 27pts

6. Giorgioffshore - 23pts

7. Qatar 96 - 15pts

8. Maritimo 12 - 12pts

9= Victory 77 - 9pts

9= C.A.M. - 9pts

11. Qatar 95 - 4pts
(Championship points include bonus points allocated to teams for running engines for two consecutive races - one point, per engine, per race)
CLASS 1 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP - after round 2 of 3

1. Fazza - 47pts

2. Victory 1 - 40pts

3. Maritimo 11 - 36pts

4. Welmax - 32pts

5. Foresti & Suardi-Roscioli Hotels - 18pts

6. Giorgioffshore - 14pts

7. Maritimo 12 - 12pts

8. Victory 77 - 9pts
EDOX POLE POSITION CHAMPIONSHIP - after round 3 of 6

1= Fazza - 44pts

1= Victory 1 - 44pts

3. Qatar 95 - 35pts

4. Welmax - 26pts

5. Qatar 96 - 24pts

6. Maritimo 11 - 13pts

7. Giorgioffshore - 12pts

8. Maritimo 12 - 11pts

9. Foresti & Suardi-Roscioli Hotels - 8pts

10. Victory 77 - 7pts 11. C.A.M. - 5pts

www.class-1.com