Class 1 - Porto Marina Egypt Preview

With three races remaining, the teams find themselves facing the business-end in the race for the world title, as they head to the highly-fashionable resort of Porto Marina on Egypt’s Northern Mediterranean coast, for the Egyptian Grand Prix, round 6 of the Class 1 World Powerboat Championship, round two of the Middle East Championship. The newly-crowned European Champions, Inge Brigt Aarbakke and Jorn Tandberg, currently lying in fourth place, will line up in Jotun for the Egyptian Grand Prix on Saturday, 25 October, looking to maintain their charge and move up in the championship standings and to reduce their 19-point deficit in the World title race by taking their third consecutive win of the season. Following the drama that unfolded in the last race in Romania, just 21 points now separate the top five boats. Championship leader Victory 1, have seen their points lead cut in half over the last two races, and will have to put the disappointment of losing out on the European title by one point behind them and try to restore there winning ways. The immediate challenge to their title lead comes from team-mates Victory 7, currently lying in second spot and 10 points adrift, who have been a constant threat all season and will be hunting down a fifth podium finish, if not their first win of the year. Qatar 95’s impressive second place last time out, running the Sterling V8 power-plants for the first time, catapulted it into third place and crucially, ahead of their team-mates, Qatar 96 who are down in fifth place, to head the Qatar challenge for title honours. And with a raft of modifications carried out on Qatar 95, they will be looking to go one better and win in Porto Marina. Foresti and Suardi 8 Italian-Norwegian pairing, are proving to be one of the season’s most reliable outfits - taking five fifth place finishes and one sixth - and lead the race for middle-order supremacy, with Montavoci, a rough water specialist, hoping to spring a few surprises if they get a repeat of last year’s rough conditions. Spaniards Spirit of Spain 88, will be aiming to step up their levels of performance, running their Mercury-Class 1 V8-powered Tencara, for the first time with Class 1 newcomer Mohammed Abdelkader Ahmed making his competitive debut in the team’s second boat, Roscioli Hotels Roma, alongside Giovanni Carpitella who makes a welcome return to Class 1 action. Following a frustrating few races, but a solid sixth place in Romania, SeveneleveN 18 switch back to the Giorgi V12 engine-package and is another team who will benefit in rough seas and will be confident that they can grab another top-six finish. After crashing out of the opening race of the season in Qatar, Chris Personage returns to front-line action in Negotiator 50 for only his second start of the season. But with regular driver, 2005 World Champion Bard Eker, unavailable, Parsonage has drafted in the services of the experienced American throttleman Billy Moore to take the sticks, with team boss Parsonage switching to takeover driving duties, his first time behind the wheel for two years. The return of Negotiator means that four out of the ten boats lining up in Porto Marina will be running V8 power-plants; Negotiator and Qatar 95 with Sterlings and Spirit of Spain and Jotun with the Mercury-Class 1. And whilst Negotiator 50 world title aspirations ended in Doha, the likelihood is, that they will be in the mix in the fight for the Middle East Championship, and could well play a role in the outcome of the World Championship if they can take points away from any of the title contenders. What no one can predict will be the weather and conditions that teams will face in Porto Marina. But a repeat of last years extremely rough conditions will act as great leveller in terms of boat and pilot performance, with the 20-lap, 91.67Nm Egyptian Grand Prix shaping up to be a crucial race in the outcome of the 2008 world title.
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP - after round 5 of 8
1. Victory 1 – 81pts
2. Victory 7 – 71pts
3. Qatar 95 – 63pts
4. Jotun 90 – 62pts
5. Qatar 96 – 60pts
6. Foresti & Suardi 8 – 41pts
7. Spirit of Spain 88 – 19pts
8. SeveneleveN 18 – 14pts
9= Negotiator 50 – 4pts
9= Qatar 9 – 4pts
(Championship points include bonus points allocated to teams for running engines for two consecutive races - one point, per engine, per race)
MIDDLE EAST CHAMPIONSHIP - after round 1 of 4
1. Victory 1 – 20pts
2. Qatar 96 – 15pts
3. Victory 7 – 12pts
4. Qatar 95 – 9pts
5. Foresti & Suardi 8 – 7pts
6. SeveneleveN 18 – 5pts
7. Negotiator 50 – 4pts
8. Jotun 90 – 0pts
EDOX POLE POSITION CHAMPIONSHIP – after round 5 of 8
1. Victory 1 – 75pts
2. Qatar 96 – 59pts
3. Jotun 90 – 51pts
4. Qatar 95 – 37pts
5. Victory 7 – 28pts
6. Foresti & Suardi 8 – 17pts
7. SeveneleveN 18 – 15pts
8. Negotiator 50 – 7pts
9. Qatar 9 – 5pts
10. Spirit of Spain 88 – 2pts

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