Class act from Class 1 offshore Victory team

Giovanni Carpitella and Giorgio Manuzzi rounded off their impressive weekend with a third podium in Spirit of Dubai, splitting the two Fazza crews to finish in second place. “For sure we are satisfied,” said Italian throttleman, Carpitella. “This is the first time we use this boat and it is an unbelievable result for us. I am very happy to use this boat and engine combination. We start very well but both Mercury boats were very fast. We stay on the line we gave Fazza 3 some space and stayed in third place at the turn. We completed the race very easily and were in control of our position and didn’t want to push too hard or damage the boat before the next race.

“It is an unbelievable boat. I think one or two things to do still, but for the first race weekend – perfect.”

After missing out yesterday, Fazza 1’s Mohammed Al Marri and Abdullah Al Mehairbi bounced back to take their third podium of the year, finishing third, but first had to survive a scare at the start when the front-end went up in the wake of Relekta. “We got caught in the wake of 91 and up she went. But I managed to trim-down and down she came, said Al Marri. “We changed our set-up before the race but this didn’t help us, and then we had some problems with the steering and in the end I had to use the throttles to help Abdullah turn the boat.”

For Jorn Tandberg and Kolbjorn Selmer, it was a case of what might have been! After giving away 30-seconds at the start of race 1, a change of propellers and a different ratio setting gave them the advantage today, albeit momentarily, before they broke their rudder after crashing down heavily on the side of the boat in rough water. “The start was great but maybe we were pushing a little too hard.” said Tandberg.

For Zabo Racing’s Christian Zaborowski and Paul Gaiser the promising start to their season was halted on lap 5 when a broken compressor belt ended Relekta’s race, with Giorgioffshore’s poor weekend compounded when a broken prop-shaft ended theirs.

Today’s win, a sixteenth for Al Zafeen and Bin Hendi, increases their lead in the title race and puts them 29-points clear of the their team-mates and extends Victory team’s winning streak to 13-races.

BMW NORWEGIAN GRAND PRIX, RACE 2 – results
1. Fazza 3 – A Al Zafeen (UAE) / N Bin Hendi (UAE) 00.43.23,23
2. Spirit of Dubai – G Manuzzi (SMR) / G Carpitella (ITA) + 00.03,14
3. Fazza 1 – A Al Mehairbi (UAE) / M Al Marri (UAE) + 02.37,11
4. Relekta – P Gaiser (BRA) / C Zaborowski (NOR) dnf
5. Welmax – K Selmer (NOR) / J Tandberg (NOR) dnf
6. Primatist – G Cappellini (ITA) / N Giorgi (ITA) dnf

UIM CLASS 1 WORLD POWERBOAT CHAMPIONSHIP – after race 4 of 12
1. Fazza 3 – 82pts 2. Fazza 1 – 53pts 3. Welmax – 29pts 4. Spirit of Dubai – 27pts 5. Primatist – 23pts 6. Team Abu Dhabi – 16pts 7. Foresti & Suardi – SCAM – 11pts 8. Welmax Alianza – 10pts 9. Relekta – 7pts

Content and Pictures courtesy of Class 1