POLE POSITION: Saturday 13^th June

Edoardo Polli and Laith Pharaon, in diesel-powered Bilboa, set the fastest timed one-kilometer run on their second of two runs in today’s Pole Position session.

The session signaled the start to the 1998 World Powerboat Championship. (Heat 1 – Bari, southern Italy). Pole Position, which takes place the day preceding every race, measures the boats over a one kilometer timed course.

Edoardo Polli "I am delighted with our result and it feels great to be racing at last. The sea was fairly choppy but the set up of our boat meant it could handle the conditions well. I have a competitive boat so I’m happy to race in all weather conditions. Practice this morning gave us an opportunity to set the boat up for these conditions – we used the same propellers for both sessions. Although Pole Position has no bearing on the race, it is an opportunity for us to judge our rivals before the actual race tomorrow.

"My partnership with Laith is excellent. He is calm, relaxed and very sure of himself in the boat which gives me great confidence. It means I can push the boat to its maximum."

Bjorn Gjelsten "We are pleased with our start to the season. Our fastest speed was on the first run while we hit some rough seas on our second which slowed us down. We are confident with our package this year, although we will be watching the diesel-powered Bilboa closely as its top speed is very fast and the horsepower advantage is considerable."

Steve Curtis "We set our fastest time on our first run, even though we went a bit wide. Conditions were better than this morning at the start of the session, but then got gradually worse. We are pleased with our performance as we are the top running petrol-powered boat. We have finished testing for today, so we are going to make some minor changes for tomorrow - we are very confident as our boat is reliable."