Season 1999
When things go right in powerboat racing, they do so with a beautiful symmetry that can approach perfection. Already one of the sport's "greats", Italian born, now Monaco domiciled, Guido Cappellini could have wished for no better start to his 1999 F1 campaign than a perfect 20 points in Portimao, Portugal but even he could not have foreseen the five victories in nine races that would give him his fifth World Championship in almost as many years.
The only driver to put points on the board in every race and never really threatened by anyone, even ex-champion, American Scott Gillman, who took the residual race victories, Cappellini's not so secret weapon came in the shape of the latest FRP composite Laserline Castrol DAC hull. This, allied to reliability from his Mercury motor, a more mature driving style that appeared to have discarded the occasional red mists of past seasons and the ability to stay out of trouble, let him show consummate skill and perseverance. The entry for the championship look good. Laserline Racing fielded Cappellini and Fabio Comparato, Rainbow Belco Avia had Fabrizio Bocca and Kikko Vidoli, defending champion, Jon Jones had Rudolf Mihaldinecz alongside him in Dragon Racing, Team Europe was made up of the hot Finnish duo of Pertti Leppala and Sami Selio while Team Singha Beer paired veteran, Thomas Ericsson with Francesco Cantando.
Sweden's Goran Karloff headed Baba Racing with Cipriano Lambri in support, Sprint Racing had Carlos Maidana and Alan Marshall, Philippe Dessertenne led Gert Ladefoged in Team Fuchs, Waircom Mare Magnum fielded Franco Leidi and Portuguese youngster, Duarte Benavente, the newly constituted Emirates Team ran American veteran Gillman alongside Australia's Craig Bailey and Massimo Roggiero headed up BB Racing with Andy Elliott.
Portimao harbour offered a nine-pin course that taxed most drivers but Cappellini made it look easy, taking Pole and race though he confided afterwards that it was very difficult on such a tight course to get it right all the time, especially with twenty-one other drivers around all going more slowly.
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| Early season skirmishes between Emirates'
Gillman and Laselines' Cappellini set the tone for the year and they
were the only two drivers to win races in a season influenced by the
weather. Photo: Formula Photographic/Davies |
Briefly challenged by Kodak-Castrol's Leppala, until flywheel problems slowed him, and latterly by Gillman struggling with no power trim and Roggiero, mostly blinded by flying spray, Bailey's boat was way off the pace despite much testing, Maidana failed to make the start with faulty electrics, Mihaldinecz had fuel pump troubles but Cappellini's young team-mate, Comparato, showed early promise with a fifth after missing practice.
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| Class of '99. The yaer marked another
advance in levels of professionalism for Promoter, Nicolo di San Germano
and his fleet. Photo: Formula Photographic/Davies |
The roll continued in Cagliari, Sardinia when Cappellini again scooped Pole and took the race, this time running his shorter DAC hull developed for the more sinuous circuits and his carburation on a rich fuel mix which slowed him off the line but he pulled up to the front only after mighty scraps with Jones, Leppala who chose the wrong propeller and Gillman, down on power all weekend. Karlof barrel rolled, Roggiero suffered a failed gear case and Bocca placed fifth with Comparato sixth after a roll in practice and thus was the championship shaped.
Cappellini took his third successive Pole in St.Petersburg but thereafter the weather played havoc with racing, first delaying the start and then aborting the race after eleven laps with the pole sitter firmly in charge but as gales in Russia were replaced with torrential rain in Chalonsur-Sa6ne, the Monegasque driver thundered on his charge. Missing out on Pole to Jones, he stormed back to take the race from Comparato, Leppala, Elliott and Dessertenne while young newcomer, Ivan Torta, had caught the eye in the Belco Avia team, replacing Vidoli who had moved temporarily to the Fuchs equipe for this race. Mihaldinecz had taken over Jones' old Seebold and adapted quickly but rolled out and Roggiero sank after being holed.
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| Talented young driver, Ivan Torta,
made a big impact when he joined the Belco Avia Team in Chalon, temporarily
replacing Vidoli alongside Bocca. Photo: Formula Photographic/Davies |
The Hungarian GP in Dunaujvaros saw the ever improving Comparato as pole sitter and he led for much of the race before trim pump problems and consequent bad handling let Cappellini through to record his fourth straight win. Leppala, Roggiero and Elliott all made his job more difficult and Gillman broke a crank, Karlof rolled and local hero Mihaldinecz performed a perfect 360 degree flipover. On to Moscow and in rough conditions on the Moskava River, Roggiero took his first Pole for two years but blew his chances by spinning out on the first turn buoy in the race, as did Ericsson with a dead engine. Leppala pushed hard before a flywheel let go, Torta suffered engine failure and it was left to Gillman to take control and just scrape home from Cappellini and Comparato, after the American was slowed with a damaged sponson, loose fuel tank and flywheel problems.
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| A regular field of twenty-two boats
contested the title but in Sardinia, Jones, Leppala, and Gillman all
gavr Cappellini a run for his money and Comparato rolled in practice
but bounced back to finish six. Photo: Formula Photographic/Davies |
Now with a useful 41 point lead over Leppala with four races left, Cappellini had almost entered the comfort zone as the fleet of twenty-two boats from eleven countries headed for Istanbul and after the uncertainties following the earthquake that had devastated Turkey in race week, qualifying sessions were cancelled but the race went ahead, with the drivers donating their prize monies to the disaster appeal. Again the weather played a role and high winds forced a 24 hour postponement and favoured the rough water experts when it did start. Gillman pushed the Emirates-Hyatt-Castrol DAC into an early lead on the Bosphorous which he never lost, over Cappellini, struggling here with his short DAC, Finland's Selio and Dessertenne with Jones and Roggiero nipping at their heels but Comparato was out with wet electrics, Leidi was hospitalised after an accident with Selio and Jones finished blinded by salt after his canopy opened.
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| The Istanbul race almost did not run at all,
after earthquake decimated the country and the weather tried to blow
the boats off the water but the drivers donated the prize money to
the appeal fund and local promoter, Ugur Isik, kept everything together. Photo: Formula Photographic/Davies |
Vienna's race came and went with the Danube proving undriveable after seven laps but not before Humaid Bakhit had retired with electrical failure and Gillman had broken a throttle cable and no points accrued to anyone. With Hong Kong's Tai Po race already cancelled, Cappellini had done enough to take his fifth title but the Emirates GP in Abu Dhabi brought them together one more time. Always an engine breaker and not the champions' favourite circuit, this year Cappellini got it absolutely right to score his fifth win, despite the attentions of Roggiero, Mihaldinecz, Bocca and Ericsson, in this his last F.1 race but Dessertenne had dominated for 35 laps before a gear-box failure robbed him of his maiden victory and Comparato and Selio had crashed spectacularly.
As maestro Cappellini pulled wheelies in front of the grandstand and considered a future of 3-litre motors in F1, his support crew went for the high fives in appreciation of their man's remarkable performance.
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| Guido Cappellini collected the Angelo
Molinari Trophy from defending champion, Jones, for his sesaon's work
and added a unique fifth world F1 title to his collection. Photo: Formula Photographic/Davies |
| Season 2000 | Season 1998 |
