19th NOVEMBER 1998
Dubai Duty Free Grand Prix – POLE POSITION
ANGLO -NORWEGIAN ‘SPIRIT’ SPOILS POLLI AND PHARAON’S PARTY
Gjelsten and Curtis win Pole to keep Championship and their Pole Position title alive
The Anglo-Norwegian pairing of Bjorn Gjelsten and Steve Curtis produced yet another demonstration of the all-round qualities and set-up of their Lamborghini powered catamaran Spirit of Norway, as they powered to their second consecutive Pole Position win of the season ahead of tomorrow’s (Friday 20) Dubai Duty Free Grand Prix.
Fighting the choppy waters off the Dubai coast, Gjelsten and Curtis produced their best time on their first run, covering the timed kilometre in 19.310 seconds at an average speed of 206.94km/h, beating arch rivals, but firm friends, Edoardo Polli and Laith Pharaon, by a mere 200ths of a second with the Jolly Motor crew of Massimo Lippi and Lamberto Leoni taking third place.
Today’s win by Spirit of Norway, means that Edoardo Polli and Laith Pharaon, piloting the Seatek powered Bilba, who have dominated this season’s Pole Position, must produce one more strong performance at the last race of the season, if they are to take the overall title.
1st Bjorn Gjelsten (Norway) & Steve Curtis (GB) – Spirit of Norway
19.310 seconds. Top speed 206.94km/h
Bjorn Gjelsten – " It was a little bit rougher than it looked. We had a very good first run, Steve kept the boat in great shape and we found some good speed. But, on the second run the wind blew up a bit, we hit a couple of big waves and we got quite a bit of air underneath us. We’ll be looking at the weather conditions closely for tomorrow’s race, but the overall set up of the boat is excellent and the only adjustments we will make will be in the propeller choice. "
Steve Curtis – " I reckoned that we were going to be able to run quicker on the second run, but in the short amount of time between the two runs, the wind picked up and we had to trim the boat out a bit, but I think too much. This gives us great confidence going into the race, we know we are competitive and everything is running as it should. Tomorrow is going to be a tactical race and a lot depends on the weather conditions, if it’s really rough we will focus on looking after the boat and finishing the race. Equally, if it is very calm we are not going to over-rev the boat and risk damaging the engines. Obviously we will be looking to seal the Championship tomorrow. "
2nd Edoardo Polli (Italy) & Laith Pharaon (Saudi Arabia) – Bilba
19.331seconds.Top speed 206.71 km/h
Edoardo Polli – " The boat is running well and we were looking to improve the time on the second run, but hit a bump coming into the start and lost a bit of speed which is hard to pick up again in only a
kilometre. Tomorrow is another day, I like the conditions, but there is quite a lot of swell out there that you don’t really see and once or twice we were up in the air. It will be a race that you have to steer and throttle with a lot of attention. If the conditions do stay the same we will run the same set up. "
3rd Lamberto Leoni (Monaco) & Massimo Lippi (Italy) – Jolly Motor
19.546 seconds. Top speed 204.44 km/h
Massimo Lippi – "We haven’t done much testing before today’s Pole Position and really for us the focus is tomorrow’s race. We know our title chances went in Fujairah, but we will still be making every effort to win the last two races. As for the set up of our boat we have no idea what the conditions will be and we shall be leaving decisions on the set up and propeller choice until the last minute. "