A
fter two full onGrand Prix at
stunning venues in Europe
that produced spectacular
racing and nail biting
qualifying sessions, the
new-look ClassOne World
Powerboat Championship
with C1 catamarans and V1
monohulls racing in tandem for the first time in
over two decades heads to the Middle East for
the sixth Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi.
The burning question in September: would a
combined series work, would it entertain, the
answer a resounding yes. Multiple race winners,
a big handful of teams peppering the podium
and qualifying sessions that have produced tied
times and a clutch of teams separated by just
hundredths of a second.
Whilst few expected the catamarans to be
challenged by the monohulls, the mix of the
two has been visually and audibly fascinating
and enthralling, the cats flying and skimming
the seas, the v hulls twitching from side-to-side
and ploughing through them and they have
certainly added more than a little spice and
entertainment to the proceedings.
Thirteen boats will line-up in the UAE’s capital
city for the season finale and the World and
Pole Position Championship deciders with both
Championships in both categories wide open;
in C1 the newly crowned European Champions
Victory’s Arif Al Zaffain andNadir BinHendi hold
the whip hand, three race wins giving them a 14
point advantage in the overall standings. But
the multiple World Champions know there is no
room for complacency after being outclassed
for seven out of 14 laps in the last race, then
breaking.
In the Pole Position Championship they lead
LFF10’s Luca Fendi and Giovanni Carpitella by
five points, the two outfits’ posting the same
time in Ibiza, Victory restoring their qualifying
advantage in Terracina.
Al Zaffain and Bin Hendi have won five times
together in Abu Dhabi, Al Zaffain also winning
there three times with Mohammed Al Marri, Bin
Hendi winning once with Darren Nicholson –
both winning last year.
Relekta-Zabo-Isiklar sits in second spot in
the title race and despite struggling to find
the optimum set-up and performance at both
events Ugur Isik and Christian Zaborowski
are still enjoying a strong season, taking three
podiums from four and a third quickest in
qualifying, taking the runners-up slot in the
European Championship
The first collaboration in Class 1 between Guido
Cappellini and Russian entrepreneur Andrey
Kitashev, with debutant Mikhail Kitashev joining
Cappellini in the cockpit of New Star-Poliform is
enjoying a fruitful debut season, three podiums
putting them in third in the points table.
But for a breakdown in race 1, picking up just five
points, and a DNS in Ibiza LFF10’s Luca Fendi
and Giovanni Carpitella would almost certainly
be challenging Victory for the top slot in the
title race, rather than currently occupying fourth
place. That said the duo proved last time out
that they have the weaponry to take them on
and beat them, which they did so brilliantly in
race 2 matching them in all areas and had the
race won before Victory broke, to finally take a
first win together since teaming-up in 2010.
The number two Fendi outfit sits in fifth, Miles
Jennings starting the season with Tarik Oktem,
then renewing his partnership with Alfredo
Amato, but two fourths and a fifth meant
that they would relinquish their European
Champions status.
For Team Abu Dhabi it has been a season of
highs and lows; the first high parading their
new Mercury- powered MTI, the first low when
Faleh Al Mansoori and Rashed Al Tayer tipped
it over in race 2 in Ibiza. The next highs came in
qualifying in Italy when replacement racers Gary
Ballough and John Tomlinson grabbed third in
qualifying and backed that up with third in race
1 only to follow that with a low, running out of
fuel on the last lap when comfortably in second
place.
The team heads to its home Grand Prix hoping
to emulate Al Tayer and Tomlinson’s win their in
2010 or the double podium the team enjoyed
last year.
In V1 the pace has been frenetic, the racing
frantic, the atmosphere amongst all competitors
fantastic. Six out of the seven boats head to
Abu Dhabi separated by just 15 points. Four
have picked up race wins five have finished on
the podium. The bottom line, the race for the V1
World title is wide-open, too close to call any
one from six can win it.
H20 MAGAZINE - NOVEMBER 2014 | 29
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