Round 5 – Turkish Grand Prix – Istanbul
MAGNIFICENT 7 RIDES TO VICTORY
* Victory 7 wins in Istanbul to strengthen grip on World Championship *
* Curtis and Gjelsten survive spectacular 140mph crash *
* Polli and Pharaon reserve room on podium in Hyatt *
Championship leaders, Ali Nasser and Randy Scism in Victory 7, led a dramatic and eventful Turkish Grand Prix from start to finish today, to increase their Championship lead over team-mates Saeed Al Tayer and Felix Serralles in Victory 44, who finished second in Istanbul, to 19 points.
However, on a weekend when the US$100,000 prize money was donated to the Turkish earthquake relief fund, the Dubai based boat was pushed hard in the early stages of the race by Spirit of Norway, until the Norwegian boat dramatically span out at over 140mph and barrel rolled in their wake.
Thankfully, the Anglo-Norwegian pairing of Bjorn Rune Gjelsten and Steve Curtis escaped with minor injuries from the crash, which happened as the pair were closing rapidly on Victory 7.
"We got a good start which meant that we could choose the best line without worrying about the other boat’s wakes," said Randy Scism as he celebrated back in the pits. "Everybody ran really hard today, but fortunately for us I guess, Spirit of Norway went out, although I’m glad to hear that everybody is OK."
"It was fast out there today," concurred Ali Nasser. "We were pushing well over 150mph at the first corner and ran really hard for most of the race, until we backed off to save the equipment at the end," he added.
"To make it to second place is absolutely fantastic, because we had a lot of problems," continued second placed Saeed Al Tayer. "We started well, but developed a gearbox problem shifting from second to third. It happened three times on the first lap, so we decided to put the left engine in fourth gear and just changed gears on the right."
Meanwhile, the combination of Spirit of Norway’s crash and the win for Victory 7, almost certainly brings to an end any hopes that Gjelsten and Curtis had of retaining the title that they won so emphatically last season.
"We realised that the only place we could get them was at the bottom bend," said a clearly shaken Curtis later, after paramedics had given him a clean bill of health. "We got a good line into the bend as they got to the yellow buoy and we thought we could get through the gap before their wake came across. We went through running full on to try and keep momentum for the next corner, but we just dropped over the wake, dug in and rolled," continued triple World Champion Curtis, who along with Gjelsten swam out from the upturned boat to be greeted by a quickly deployed rescue team. "One thing is for sure. You can’t go as fast as we’ve been running and never have accidents," he added.
"We had the centre flap down and were running at about 140mph," said Gjelsten. In hindsight we should have gone through the rooster tail of spray instead of trying to duck through on the inside," he added, as he clutched a bruised rib.
Edoardo Polli and Laith Pharaon showed promise once again, to finish on the podium for the second race in a row.
"We had minor hitches right from the start with intermittent mechanical problems caused by loss in oil pressure, but we were coping OK," said a frustrated Laith Pharaon. "Then suddenly on lap 12 we couldn’t get a gear and found out after the race that we lost a propeller."
Claudio Dionisio and Roberto Biancalana in Binautica continue to amass points and again scored a very respectable fourth place, while local hero, Turkey’s Ugur Isik and Philippe Benhamou collected their highest finish of the season in fifth. For Ken Thorne and Matteo Nicolini in No Fear, there were also encouraging signs, as they ran as high as third place before finally being classified sixth.
With just one week to go until the Aegean Grand Prix in Bodrum, Turkey, the Spirit of Norway Team will be surveying the extensive damage inflicted on the boat in the hope that they might be able to repair the distinctive red and white catamaran and do battle again.