A dramatic start to the
Powerboat P1 Sicilian Grand Prix of the Sea settled down to conservative racing as teams in both Evolution and SuperSport classes try to maximize their points for the season's Championship title that will come down to the checkered flag during Sunday's final Endurance Race in Siracusa, Sicily.
Saturday's 10-lap Sprint Race in Evolution class began as a free-for-all with #10 CIGARETTE SMASH POKER, #66 CRANEFIELDS WINE, and #88 SNAV OSG all heading into the first turn together, where Siegfried Greve and Gino Giancarlo Passchier made an inside move to take the lead and start pulling away in the
Ilmor-powered #66 Searex boat. However, at the next turn CRANESFIELD WINE made a dramatic spin, doing enough damage to end their race day. When the sea spray cleared, the field was led by Hannes Bohinc and Giancarlo Cangiano in the SNAV OSG, CIGARETTE SMASH POKER - piloted by Luca Formilli Fendi and throttled by Matteo Nicolini, in a Mercury/
Cigarette combo. Following was the
Mercury-powered
Fountain of Frank Hemelaer and Pierre Colpin in #33 FURNIBO, Marco Pennesi and Stefano Bonanno in the #53 SeaTek diesel-powered
METAMARINE and the #77
LUCAS OIL Mercury-powered
Skater with Nigel Hook and Nico Huybens. With the Championship up for grabs, the field raced carefully on the calm water race course and finished in that order.
For the Evolution season title, the points leader going into Sicily, #47 SILVERLINE finished at the back of the pack, and in fact, was lapped twice in the Endurance contest by the eventual winners. SNAV OSG, the
Outerlimits with twin Mercury Racing engines. SNAV OSG remains the only Evolution team eligible for Reliability Bonus Points - awarded to the teams finishing the second half of the season with the same engines - following blown engines during PowerPole competition by both SILVERLINE and CIGARETTE SMASH POKER.
In SuperSport racing, Brits Daniel Cramphorn and Kim Collins seem intent to make good their promise to win the most individual P1 races this season by pushing their
Sterling-powered Donzi #26 SW1 CAPITAL to an easy win. While the pair has no hope at the title, the win puts them in position to finish on the World Championship podium in third place. Another
Donzi - this one with
Mercury power- #38 BAIA ATTOLINI finished second. The crew of Stefano Acanfora and Renato Guidi holds second place overall, nipping at heels of the leader, SEAGULL CHAUDRON. Wildcard entry #50 SAHO finished the Sprint Race third, but receives no points toward the World Championship title, meaning class points leaders Aaron Ciantar and Angelo Tedeschi, in the
Ilmor-powered #43 SEAGULL CHAUDRON, finishing fourth and maintaining the lead, but by a narrower margin in their quest to repeat as World Champions.
The "sister boat" in Tedeschi's Team Racing Project, #44 IKO CASA, with the all female crew of Ikocasa Shelly Jory and Aaron Ciantar's sister, Audrien - pushed their Mercury Racing-powered
Chaudron to a dramatic PowerPole victory on Friday, and held third place through half of Saturday's race before falling off the pace and finishing fifth.
So it will be down to the wire on Sunday for the final race of the Powerboat P1 World Championship, with both the Sicilian Grand Prix of the Sea and the P1 World Champion titles on the line. Race action begins at 10:00 AM EST. Live coverage can be heard at
www.p1radio.com, and complete details as well as final standings from Saturday's action is available at
www.powerboatp1.com.
