Class 1 offshore season starts and its a triple delight for Fazza 3 in Rio

Sunday, 28 March, RIO DE JANEIRO (Brazil): Arif Al Zafeen and Nadir Bin Hendi completed a hat-trick of wins, winning race 2 of the Brazilian Grand Prix to take a maximum 40 points from round one of the UIM Class 1 World Powerboat Championship and make the perfect start to the defence of their World Championship title.

Fazza 1’s Mohammed Al Marri and Abdullah Al Mehairbi pushed their teammates all the way to claim another second place finish, with Duemme – Foresti & Suardi’s all-Italian pairing of Giampaolo Montavoci and Guido Cappellini claiming a first podium, in their first Grand Prix weekend together.

The reigning world champions, led from start-to-finish, claiming a tenth race win in only their twelfth race together, a career fourteenth for both. Despite an electrical failure, Al Zafeen and Bin Hendi were able to hold off a determined challenge from their closest rivals and teammates to take the victory, completing the 71.32Nm course in 47mins 16.14secs. “I am delighted with the result after the problems we had, but sometimes it is nice to drive without the technology to test yourself,” said Bin Hendi, “This is a great start to the season and sets us up perfectly for the next round in Arendal.”

A close race saw Fazza 1’s Al Marri and Al Mehairbi get within touching distance of their teammates while holding off a strong challenge from Duemme – Foresti & Suardi behind them. Two podiums from the weekend saw them consolidate second place in the championship on 30 points. “We are very happy to have finished the weekend with two podiums. We got very close to Fazza 3 and pushed hard to overtake, but they always had that little bit extra. To beat them we need some magic.” said Al Marri

An inspired performance by new-pairing Montavoci and Cappellini in Duemme – Foresti & Suardi saw them claim their first podium together. Moving up from fourth on the grid they briefly held second place as they traded long-laps with Fazza 1. The third place finish, Montavoci’s first podium since Portorose, Slovenia, in 2006, delighted the experienced Italian, who said: “It feels fantastic to be back on the podium after such a long time. We got very close to Fazza, which is thanks to my new driver [Cappellini] and we will look for more in the next race.”

A spin on lap six of the race prevented Team Abu Dhabi’s Rashed Al Tayer and Nicola Giorgi from pushing for the podium. Their fourth placed finish was well earned and the new pairing will take heart from a good performance by both boat and team, giving them something to build on for the next race.

Fabio Magnani and Marco Pennesi in Foresti & Suardi – SCAM produced another solid performance taking fifth place in their second outing together, going two better than in race 1, to make it an eleven-point weekend.

Welmax Alianza’s Giorgio Manuzzi and Marit Stromoy claimed their second consecutive sixth place in their first grand prix outing together, however, their was frustration for teammates Jorn Tandberg and Kolbjorn Selmer, in Welmax, who were unable to build on yesterday’s podium finish after stopping on the start lap before restarting, only to see their race hopes end a lap later with a broken compressor belt.

The UIM Class 1 World Powerboat Championship now heads to Europe for round 2, on the dazzling fjords of Arendal, Norway, on 16-18 July, 2010.

BRAZILIAN GRAND PRIX, RACE 2 – results

1. Fazza 3 – A Al Zafeen (UAE) / N Bin Hendi (UAE) – 47.16,14
2. Fazza 1 – A Al Mehairbi (UAE) / M Al Marri (UAE) + 00.14,09
3. Duemme – Foresti & Suardi – G Cappellini (ITA) / G Montavoci (ITA) + 00.28,00
4. Team Abu Dhabi – R Al Tayer (UAE) / N Giorgi (ITA) + 01.56,11
5. Foresti & Suardi – SCAM – F Magnani (ITA) / M Pennesi (ITA) + 02.29,87
6. Welmax Alianza – G Manuzzi (SMR) / M Stromoy (NOR) + 1 lap
Welmax – K Selmer (NOR) / J Tandberg (NOR) – DNF

CLASS 1 WORLD POWERBOAT CHAMPIONSHIP after race 2 of 14
1. Fazza 3 – 40pts 2. Fazza 1 – 30pts 3. Duemme – Foresti & Suardi – 21pts 4. Team Abu Dhabi – 16pts 5. Welmax – 12pts 6. Foresti & Suardi – SCAM – 11pts 7. Welmax Alianza – 10pts

See the Class 1 Offshore Power boats in Video action at

www.worldsportsboats.ning.com

Content and picture release courtesy of UIM Class 1