shifter

06/12/2007

QATAR 96 QUICKEST IN FIRST PRACTICE

Thursday, 6 December, DUBAI (UAE): Sheikh Hassan and Matteo Nicolini were the early pace setters for Saturday’s Dubai Grand, the final round of the 2007 WPPA Class 1 World Powerboat Championship, setting the fastest time of 2m 37.34s around the 4.4Nm circuit in today’s official practice. "We used a new set of propellers today and this for sure made an improvement in terms of performance," said Matteo Nicolini. "This was a good session for the team – for us to go quicker than Spirit and for Abdullah and Luca to be up there to. On this course where the top speed is not as fast as some of the circuits we have raced – the V8 can be very competitive."

Qatar 96’s rivals for the runners-up spot in the world championship and for the Class 1 Middle East title, Spirit of Norway, were second quickest with Qatar 95 the best of the V8 outfits in third ahead of Negotiator, who broke an engine, and Jotun, who were lucky not to hit the breakwater inside Palm Island after a spin out.

Victory 77’s practice session was hindered by a technical problem, with Al Zafeen and Sanchez completing only one timed lap and finishing down in seventh place behind their team-mates. Giampaolo Montavoci and Marco Pennesi struggled throughout the session with steering problems that cost them valuable time in the turns inside the Palm, with Foresti & Suardi recording the eighth quickest time in front of Spirit of Norway 20.

In tomorrow’s Edox Pole Position, Bjorn Gjelsten and Steve Curtis will bid to become the first pairing to be unbeaten in qualifying in a season by making it seven wins out of seven.

Official Practice:
1. Qatar 96 – H Al Thani (QAT)/M Nicolini (ITA) – 2m 37.34s
2. Spirit of Norway 10 – B Gjelsten (NOR)/S Curtis (GB) – 2m 37.65s
3. Qatar 95 – A Al Sulaiti (QAT)/L Nicolini (ITA) – 2m 38.26s
4. Negotiator 50 – B Eker (NOR)/C Parsonage (GB) – 2m 39.01s
5. Jotun 90 – C Zaborowski (NOR)/J Tandberg (NOR) – 2m39.15s
6. Victory 7 – T Al Sayed (UAE)/N Hendi (UAE) – 2m 39.23s
7. Victory 77 – A Al Zafeen(UAE)/JM Sanchez (FR) – 2m 45.12ss
8. Foresti & Suardi 8 – M Pennesi (ITA)/G Montavoci (ITA) – 2m 46.75s
9. Spirit of Norway 20 – T Barry-Cotter (AUS)/P Nilsen (NOR) – 2m 47.65s
10. Fainplast 2 – K Selmer (NOR)/M Esperto (ITA) – dns
11. SeveneleveN 18 – T Polli (ITA)/N Giorgi (ITA) – dns

With the championship out of the way this race should be good.

This was a good pic from the c1 website.

pat W

Dd24skater

Great pic, is that Curtis?

FunHome

Great Corner!!!

Starflite X

Looks like Qatar 96 to me.

shifter

07/12/2007

SEVEN IN A ROW FOR SPIRIT OF NORWAY

Friday, 7 December, DUBAI (UAE): Today’s seventh and final round of the 2007 Class 1 Edox Pole Position Championship produced a nail-biting finale, with Spirit of Norway’s Bjorn Gjelsten and Steve Curtis producing a scintillating lap to set the fastest time and maintain their unbeaten run, taking their seventh win of the season. The battle for the runners-up slot went down to the very last run of the 75-minute session, with Victory 77’s Arif Al Zafeen and Jean-Marc Sanchez producing their best lap to go second quickest to edge out Sheikh Hassan and Matteo Nicolini in Qatar 96.

Spirit of Norway set the pace on their opening lap with a time of 2m 31.84s, which looked to be good enough to take the win, with their main rivals, Victory 77 and Qatar 96, failing to match it on their opening laps, going second and third quickest. Chris Parsonage and Bard Eker then put Negotiator into third place on their first run, posting 2m 34.57s, but immediately improved on their second lap to grab second spot with 2m 32.10s. Both Victory 77 and Qatar 96 went again, with Victory 77 improving and matching Spirit of Norway’s 2m 31.84s, but then saw Qatar 96 snatch the provisional pole with 2m 31.51s, forcing the Edox Pole Position Champions to go again, with Spirit of Norway knocking three seconds off their own time to grab back the provisional pole with 2m 27.98s. Victory 77’s final run failed to trouble Spirit of Norway but 2m 29.89s was good enough for second in qualifying and second overall in the Edox Pole Position Championship, with Qatar 96 relegated to third place. Negotiator finished the quickest of the V8 runners in fourth place, with Jotun and Victory 7 completing the top six.

Today’s result sets up a mouth watering prospect for tomorrow’s Dubai Grand Prix, the final race of the season, with the four boats still in with a shot at lifting the WPPA Class 1 Middle East Championship lining up beside each other and separated by just 11 points - with Spirit of Norway and Qatar 96, who are currently tied in second place in the overall world championship standings on 96 points, starting with the newly crowned World Champions, Victory 77, between them!

EDOX POLE POSITION – round 7
1. Spirit of Norway 10 – B Gjelsten (NOR)/S Curtis (GB) – 2m 27.98s
2. Victory 77 – A Al Zafeen(UAE)/JM Sanchez (FR) – 2m 29.89s
3. Qatar 96 – H Al Thani (QAT)/M Nicolini (ITA) – 2m 31.51s
4. Negotiator 50 – B Eker (NOR)/C Parsonage (GB) – 2m 32.10s
5. Jotun 90 – C Zaborowski (NOR)/J Tandberg (NOR) – 2m 32.48s
6. Victory 7 – T Al Sayed (UAE)/N Hendi (UAE) – 2m 33.14s
7. Qatar 95 – A Al Sulaiti (QAT)/L Nicolini (ITA) – 2m 35.32s
8. Spirit of Norway 20 – T Barry-Cotter (AUS)/P Nilsen (NOR) – 2m 42.17s
9. Foresti & Suardi 8 – M Pennesi (ITA)/G Montavoci (ITA) – 2m 46.12s
10. Fainplast 2 – K Selmer (NOR)/M Esperto (ITA) – 2m 55.06s
11. SeveneleveN 18 – G Manuzzi (ITA)/N Giorgi (ITA) – 3m 10.06s

EDOX POLE POSITION CHAMPIONSHIP – after round 7 of 7
1. Spirit of Norway 10 – B Gjelsten (NOR)/S Curtis (GB) – 140pts
2. Victory 77 – A Al Zafeen(UAE)/JM Sanchez (FR) – 78pts
3. Qatar 96 – H Al Thani (QAT)/M Nicolini (ITA) – 73pts
4. Jotun 90 – C Zaborowski (NOR)/J Tandberg (NOR) 65pts
5. Victory 7 – A Al Sayed (UAE)/N Hendi (UAE) – 58pts
6. Qatar 95 – A Al Sulaiti (QAT)/L Nicolini (ITA) – 45pts
7. Negotiator 50 – B Eker (NOR)/C Parsonage (GB) – 28pts
7. Spirit of Norway 20 – T Barry-Cotter (AUS)/P Nilsen (NOR) – 24pts
8. Foresti & Suardi 8 – M Pennesi (ITA)/G Montavoci (ITA) – 22pts
10. SeveneleveN 18 – T Polli (ITA)/N Giorgi (ITA) – 7pts
11. Fainplast 2 – K Selmer (NOR)/M Esperto (ITA) – 5pts


Good job Steve and Bijorn. It looks good for them tomorrow with a 2 sec advantage in qualifying.

pat W

shifter

08/12/2007

SPIRIT OF NORWAY COMPLETE THE DOUBLE TO WIN MIDDLE EAST CHAMPIONSHIP

Saturday, 8 December, DUBAI (UAE): Spirit of Norway’s Bjorn Gjelsten and Steve Curtis completed the Dubai-double to take their fourth win of the season in today’s Dubai Grand Prix, the final race of the 2007 WPPA Class 1 World Powerboat Championship to clinch the WPPA Class 1 Middle East Championship. The newly crowned WPPA Class 1 World Powerboat Champions, Victory 77’s Arif Saif Al Zafeen and Jean-Marc Sanchez finished second, with Sheikh Hassan Bin Jabor Al-Thani and Matteo Nicolini coming home in third place in Qatar 96.

With the first race start aborted and red-flagged by officials, it was Spirit of Norway who seized the immediate advantage at the restart to lead after the first lap from Victory 77 and Qatar 96. Victory 7 made up ground on lap one, moving into fourth place ahead of Qatar 95 and Negotiator, who dropped from fourth at the start to seventh.

Spirit of Norway held the lead until they took their long laps, dropping them to second on lap 8 behind Victory 77, but ahead of Qatar 96. The lead trio held station until Victory 77 was forced to take their long laps, with Spirit moving back into the lead on lap 15, and going on to win the 21-lap, 94.18Nm, Dubai Grand Prix by 31 seconds.

Victory 7 finished fourth ahead of Qatar 95, with Foresti & Suardi completing the list of finishers in sixth. Spirit of Norway 20 hit trouble and retired on the opening lap, with Jotun’s miserable season of bad luck continuing when they stopped on lap 3 along with Fainplast. Negotiator went five laps later followed by SeveneleveN, out on lap 11.

DUBAI GRAND PRIX – round 8
1. Spirit of Norway 10 – B Gjelsten (NOR)/S Curtis (GB)
2. Victory 77 – A Al Zafeen(UAE)/JM Sanchez (FR) + 00.31,62
3. Qatar 96 – H Al Thani (QAT)/M Nicolini (ITA) + 01.16,79
4. Victory 7 – T Al Sayed (UAE)/N Hendi (UAE) + 01.50,51
5. Qatar 95 – A Al Sulaiti (QAT)/L Nicolini (ITA) + 02.13,15
6. Foresti & Suardi 8 – M Pennesi (ITA)/G Montavoci (ITA) + 2 laps
SeveneleveN 18 – Giorgio Manuzzi (ITA)/N Giorgi (ITA) – dnf
Negotiator 50 – B Eker (NOR)/C Parsonage (GB) - dnf
Jotun 90 – C Zaborowski (NOR)/J Tandberg (NOR) - dnf
Fainplast 2 – K Selmer (NOR)/M Esperto (ITA) – dnf
Spirit of Norway 20 – T Barry-Cotter (AUS)/P Nilsen (NOR) – dnf

WPPA CLASS 1 WORLD POWERBOAT CHAMPIONSHIP – after round 8 of 8
1. Victory 77 – A Al Zafeen(UAE)/JM Sanchez (FR) – 144pts
2. Spirit of Norway 10 – B Gjelsten (NOR)/S Curtis (GB) – 118pts
3. Qatar 96 – H Al Thani (QAT)/M Nicolini (ITA) – 112pts
4. Qatar 95 – A Al Sulaiti (QAT)/L Nicolini (ITA) – 75pts
5. Victory 7 – T Al Sayed (UAE)/N Hendi (UAE) – 71pts
6. Negotiator 50 – B Eker (NOR)/C Parsonage (GB) – 51pts
7. Foresti & Suardi 8 – M Pennesi (ITA)/G Montavoci (ITA) – 48pts
8. Spirit of Norway 20 – T Barry-Cotter (AUS)/P Nilsen (NOR) – 38pts
10. SeveneleveN 18 – T Polli (ITA)/N Giorgi (ITA) – 19pts
9. Jotun 90 – C Zaborowski (NOR)/J Tandberg (NOR) 14pts
11. Fainplast 2 – K Selmer (NOR)/M Esperto (ITA) – 12pts



Thats all folks.

pat W

Maximus

By 31 sec. Amazing how he consistantly beat the Victory Budget and R&D resources.

Congrats Steve