Round 1 – European Grand Prix – Savona, Italy
‘VICTORY’ SHINES AS
OPPOSITION FADE
* Defending World Champions drop to sixth, after early dominance *
The Dubai-based Victory Team, today compounded its dominant one-two in yesterday’s Pole Position award, with Khalfan Harib and Mohamed Al Ghaith steering ‘Victory 4’ to an emphatic win at the European Grand Prix in Savona, Italy, despite trailing defending World Champions Bjorn Gjelsten and Steve Curtis for ninety per-cent of the race.
In front of an impressive flotilla of
spectator boats and a huge shore-bound crowd, Ali Nasser and Randy Scism in ‘Victory
7’ completed an excellent weekend for the UAE team, by holding off a dramatic
late charge from Leonardo Polli and Jim Dyke in ‘Jolly Motor’ to
secure second place by just five seconds.
"Because of a transmission problem we could only select third and fourth gear, so we were slow away at the start and through all the corners," said ’93 World Champion, Harib at the post-race press conference. "Given the circumstances, we are obviously very pleased with the result," he added.
However, despite speeding to the first Pole Position award of the season yesterday, Saeed Al Tayer and Felix Serralles in ‘Victory 44’ failed to make it a clean sweep for the UAE, finishing in fourth place behind ‘Jolly Motor’ after battling a constant water leak.
"Leonardo and I are gelling well as a team," said delighted throttleman Jim Dyke after the race. "We are obviously a little short on power at the moment, but we are hopeful that we can make up the shortfall fairly quickly," he added.
Meanwhile,
the Anglo-Norwegian pairing of Gjelsten and Curtis in ‘Spirit of Norway’
made a frustrating start to the defence of their World Title, losing the lead on lap ten
of twelve with fuel pressure problems. After staking an early claim to the ’99 crown
by building an impressive lead from the flag, the pair were eventually classified in sixth
place.
"The boat feels great. We made a good start and were beginning to control the race, until the third lap when the fuel pressure started to drop," commented a clearly disappointed Gjelsten later. "We switched to the manual pump on the fifth lap but soon after we felt vibrations and realised that we had an engine problem," he continued.
Behind the leading pack, early season teething problems waged a war of attrition on the ten strong line-up, with Ken Thorne and Matteo Nicolini in ‘Caesar Marine,’ Edoardo Polli and Laith Pharaon in ‘Hyatt’ and Mauro Esperto and Giampaolo Montavoci in ‘Immersion’ all retiring with a variety of mechanical failures.
With first blood going to the Victory team, there will undoubtedly now follow a frantic month of testing and soul-searching before the 45-foot long leviathans meet on 4 July to do battle at the German Grand Prix in Travemunde.