From the restart pole-sitters Victory again resumed complete
control and were never put under any pressure, moving 15
second clear of LFF10 by lap 5, going on to win comfortably by
27 seconds to seal an eighth European Championship for the
Dubai based team.
Local favourites Luca Fendi and Giovanni Carpitella in LFF10
were able to fend off the threat from Team Abu Dhabi and
maintained P2, apart for a brief spell when they and the front
runners took their long laps conceding the place to teammates
Miles Jennings and Alfredo Amato who went on to finish fifth,
to grab their first podium of the year, but the race was far from
easy for the Italian duo enduring a fuel and fume-filled cockpit
for most of it.
Gary Ballough and John Tomlinson produced just the comeback
result Team Abu Dhabi was hoping for producing an impressive
performance to take third place, a third podium for Tomlinson
with the team and a first on his C1 debut for Ballough.
There was disappointment for New Star-Poliform’s Guido
Cappellini and Mikhail Kitashev, retiring immediately after the
restart.
With the top three boats in V1 side-lined before the restart, the
Championship race had been blownwide open and Bernico-New
Star, Silverline and Aquasport capitalised on it and produced a
brilliant race, the trio swapping places throughout.
Aquasport’s Daniel Cramphorn and Nico Huyben’s led from the
restart but were overhauled by Nico Bertels and Frank Hemelaer
in Bernico-New Star on lap 3 and a lap later by Silverline’s Ian
Blacker and Drew Langdon.
The leaders then raced side-by side for the next two laps with
Silverline piling on the pressure and passing the race leader on
lap 5, but two laps later Bernico-New Star came again and made
the decisive pass going on to take a brilliant win by 2.86seconds
to move to the top of the Championship standings.
Despite missing out on the top step, Drew Langdon was more
than happy to pick up a second podium in two races, with third
place for Aquasport their best result this season putting them
back in the title race.
Race 2 delivered what the Italian fans had come to see and
what Luca Fendi and Giovanni Carpitella had been waiting for
since 2010, the home favourites producing a breath taking
performance to take their first win together in C1 at their home
Grand Prix, with Aquasport’s Daniel Cramphorn and Nico
Huybens producing a totally dominant performance to win in V1.
Lining up in first and second at the start, Victory and LFF10
delivered a sensational opening lap with Fendi and Carpitella
stealing the advantage from the pole-sitters immediately and
leading them to the first turn, then holding them off in a nail
biting run to the start-finish line as the two closed on each other
just inches apart going into turn one of lap 2, LFF10 coming out
in front.
From that point LFF10 were able to maintain the upper hand, the
gap between them fluctuating as they took their long laps. LLF10
was eight seconds clear by lap 7 when the defending World
Champions and race 1 winners suddenly slowed to a crawl, Arif
Al Zaffain and Nadir Bin Hendi limping round for two laps before
retiring from the race with a broken transmission.
For the remaining seven laps Fendi and Carpitella were out on
their own and after 25 races together delivered the victory they
had been waiting for, taking the chequered flag to win by over
30 seconds.
H20 MAGAZINE - NOVEMBER 2014 | 33
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