VICTORY 7 & HYATT LEAD DIESEL DOMINANCE
* Victory 7 beats Hyatt into second place by 9 thousandths of a second*
The recent dominance of Ali Nasser and Randy Scism in Victory 7 continued apace today, when the Dubai powerboat beat Hyatt into second place at the Aegean Grand Prix Pole Position run in Bodrum, with one of the narrowest margins ever recorded.
The winning time of 14.411 seconds (249.81kmh / 155.13mph) over a measured kilometer on the aquamarine waters of the Aegean, was just nine thousandths of a second faster than that recorded by Edoardo Polli and Laith Pharaon in Hyatt and marks their third Pole win a row.
The result also sees the Victory Team retain their one hundred per-cent success rate in the Pole run this season, and means that Victory 7 leap-frogs Hyatt into second place in the Championship.
"Edoardo and Laith have done a lot of work on their boat and our crew’s done the same, so it really comes down to the prop choice and set-up you pick on the day," said a relieved Randy Scism back in port. "I think we were fortunate today," admitted the American throttleman, who reputedly recorded an unofficial top speed of 262kmh in calm practice conditions yesterday.
With such a narrow margin of Victory, Laith Pharaon was slightly frustrated at what might have been, but also pleased that the boat ran the dominant Victory 7 so close. "That was as close as you can get without winning, but we were running a ¾ fuel load which may have just made the difference. We are really happy with the development programme and are full of confidence in the engine and the gearboxes now, but if conditions stay the same tomorrow, we may go slightly shorter on props. The one thing that we are still missing though is top end speed," he continued.
The result clearly demonstrates the emerging dominance of diesel boats over the currently favoured petrol driven vessels, a fact that has not escaped third placed Leonardo Polli in Jolly Motor. "I think that we’ve proved today that we have the fastest boat with gasoline, but the diesel boats are so much faster," said the Swiss-Italian driver. "Especially on flat water and we’ve been racing on flat water all year long. There is no rough sea anymore, except what we found in Arendal and we won there, so if it stays like this with flat water courses inside bays, then the future is with diesel," he predicted.
After finishing fourth with a time of 15.247 seconds (236.11kmh / 146.63mph,) Saeed Al Tayer and Felix Serralles in Victory 44 still retain the overall Championship lead with 96 points, but with just ten points between them and their in-form team-mates, the title could well go down to the wire.
Meanwhile, Ken Thorne and Matteo Nicolini in No Fear, overcame a blown turbo this morning, by replacing the engine, only to suffer a broken starter motor ten minutes before the session. However, feverish work by the team’s mechanics rectified the fault with seconds to spare, and allowed the Italian-Welsh pairing to post a respectable fifth placed time of 15.247 seconds (236.11kmh / 146.63mph.)
Giampaolo Montavoci and Giovanni Giorgi however, were less fortunate in L.A Jeans, breaking down as they toured out to the muster area for the second race in a row.
As preparations continued into the heat of the night, Scism and Nasser will be hoping that they can hold their form for the big race tomorrow, where they are hot favourites to lift the European Championship.