ITALIANS DOMINATE TO WIN IN ISTANBUL
- Gjelsten and Curtis extend Championship lead -
Italians Lamberto Leoni and Massimo Lippi dominated today’s Istanbul Grand Prix, round 4 of the U.I.M. Class 1 World Powerboat Championship, to claim their first win of the season. Piloting the Lamborghini powered catamaran Jolly Motor, Leoni and Lippi led from the start to record a comprehensive victory by an impressive 69 seconds, covering the 125Nm course at an average speed of 210.28kmh. In a calculated second place the current Championship leader’s, Norway’s Bjorn Gjelsten and Britain’s Steve Curtis in Spirit of Norway extended their overall points lead, with Victory 4 crewed by Khalfan Harib and Mohamed Al Gaith taking third place.
For the former Formula 1 Ferrari test driver, Leoni and his throttleman Lippi it was the perfect performance. "We have been so close this season so to finally win here in Istanbul is great," said a delighted Lamberto Leoni. "We are constantly testing and making minor adjustments to the boat and this is what I believe gave us a slight advantage today. The other reason for our win today was our propeller choice, but I was a bit worried when I heard that a buoy had drifted thinking this might change the course that we had planned for."
Maintaining their 100% podium record this season with a calculated second place, Norway’s Bjorn Gjelsten was more than pleased with their overall performance.
"It was important for us to do well in this race and to maintain our overall Championship lead," said Gjelsten. "We were right behind Jolly Motor for the first half of the race, but on lap six Steve and I had a discussion and decided that points were more important than victory so we settled for second rather than risk not finishing. It wasn’t an easy decision but it was the right one. We still have four races to go and there are four teams still in with a chance of the title"
For the all United Arab Emirates pairing of Harib and Al Gaith a podium finish in only the second outing in the new boat was a very positive result. "We made a wrong propeller choice but we can’t be disappointed with third as it is only our second race and an improvement on our first result," commented Khalfan Harib.
"My prediction yesterday," added Mohamed Al Gaith, "was that whoever led from the start would go on to win because overtaking was always going to be hard on such a narrow and twisty course. We are pleased with the boat, but after the race in Rome we plan a month of intensive testing."
Of the ten boats that lined up on the Bosphorus for this historic first Class 1 race in Turkey, only five finished. However for the Australian pairing of Bill Barry-Cotter and Keith Hanson in Riviera, fifth place and seven points was a just reward after a mysterious fuel problem nearly ended their race before it began.
Gjelsten and Curtis head to Nettuno, Italy (September 27th) for round five of the Championship with a slender lead of 17 points and will be looking for another solid performance to maintain their title bid.