Powerboat P1 Grand Prix a Success For Lucas Oil Outerlimits Racing Team
POWERBOAT P1 GRAND PRIX A SUCCESS FOR
LUCAS OIL OUTERLIMITS RACING TEAM
“We came to Europe to introduce our brand and do some competitive, rough water racing,” says Mike Fiore, owner and president of Outerlimits Powerboats, “We arrived in Malta for the first race and found a professional, exciting organization with a great circuit, added a sponsor and a World Champion teammate, took third overall in the season and are fielding a new Italian team—the 2006 World Champion--in an Outerlimits boat for 2008. I’d say it’s been one helluva summer!”
The 2007 Powerboat P1 World Championship races in Portimao, Portugal, ended the season on the same note as it opened. The Mercury-powered Outerlimits SV-40 entered the first day’s endurance race, chomping at the bit for a win. After an impressive start, the boat suffered some mechanical problems in the first race lap that forced it to retire before finishing the race. Day two’s sprint race was cancelled due to inclement weather, so the World Championship weekend wrapped up with the Lucas Oil Outerlimits Racing Team ranking third in the circuit’s point standings.
The good news of the weekend was the announcement that the U.I.M. Appeals Board overturned the Powerboat P1 jury’s decision that had disqualified the Lucas Oil Outerlimits Team in the Travemunde, Germany sprint race. The team had received the DQ for crossing into a swim area when it temporarily lost power and drifted into a buoy that was determined not to have been a swim area marker. The reinstatement of the 80 points for second place in that race boosted the team to third in the overall standings in the Evolution Class.
The 2006 Powerboat P1 Evolution Champion, Italian OSG team, jointly announced this weekend that it would field an Outerlimits Powerboat in the 2008 circuit, while other teams in the Supersport Class have also expressed interest in buying an Outerlimits Powerboat to suit the specifications for that “production model” class. “Overall, I’d say we have accomplished our goals for this racing season,” says Fiore.
Outerlimits Powerboats will return to the U.S. to complete the 2007 Poker Run season in Sarasota and Key West, Florida and to prepare for the Ft. Lauderdale, Florida International Boat Show October 25-29.
