Emirates Grand Prix – POLE POSITION
POLLI AND PHARAON WIN POLE POSITION CHAMPIONSHIP IN STYLE
Italy’s Edoardo Polli and Saudi Arabia’s Laith Pharaon blazed to their sixth Pole Position win of the season to lift the 1998 Pole Position World Championship title. Producing yet another emphatic performance, the Seatek powered flame red Bilba topped the Pole run by a clear 10kmh over its nearest challenger.
Polli and Pharaon produced their best time on their first run, covering the timed kilometre in 15.323 seconds at an average speed of 240.81km/h, beating the recently crowned World Champions, Bjorn Gjelsten and Steve Curtis with the Jolly Motor crew of Massimo Lippi and Lamberto Leoni taking third place.
All eyes will now focus on the Emirates Grand Prix and the target for Polli and driver Laith Pharaon, will be to put Bilba on the top step of the podium.
1st Edoardo Polli (Italy) & Laith Pharaon (Saudi Arabia) – Bilba
15.323seconds. Top speed 240.81 km/h
Edoardo Polli – "Well I don’t think the overall result was ever in doubt, we could have taken it easy to make sure and not to do like Carlos Sainz, but it’s against our character to take it easy, so we decided to take it. We have learnt a lot this season, I think we know what our problem is. We knew that we couldn’t fix it during this season, it takes lots of work. What we have to do is already under construction and we feel we’ll be more than ready for the next season. I’ll be very happy tomorrow if the conditions stay the same as today."
Laith Pharaon – "I’m real happy, it’s nice to see that we were able to clinch the title. It shows the boat is a fast boat, but we know we have a lot of work to do this winter to improve its reliability. All in all I think we did a great job, I think the team did a great job and have been working hard all week to set it up and she was just moving like a freight train today. These type of conditions and the set up we had today doesn’t hurt the equipment, if we get the same conditions tomorrow and we get a break, maybe we can go the distance."
2nd Bjorn Gjelsten (Norway) & Steve Curtis (GB) – Spirit of Norway
16.063 seconds. Top speed 229.72km/h
Bjorn Gjelsten – "We chose slightly too big props for today’s run, but it doesn’t matter what props we run, we can’t beat Edoardo as he has 600 more horse power – it’s just not possible. Looking ahead to tomorrow, we would like to win and that is what we are really shooting for. But, it may be a compromise to ensure we finish in the top three, which will mean we have been on the podium at every race on both competitions."
3rd Lamberto Leoni (Monaco) & Massimo Lippi (Italy) – Jolly Motor
16.095 seconds. Top speed 229.26 km/h
Massimo Lippi – Our run was good and the boat set up was perfect. I’m looking forward to tomorrow, I think it will be a really good race. We have four boats that will be running for sure with the same speed. It will be important to stay with the leading group for about 3 or 4 laps. After half way we will give it everything."