Cappellini And Contando Make It An All Italian Top 3!!
PLOVDIV, BULGARIA (5th AUGUST): Italian Massimo Roggiero gladly took his first pole of the year and gave the Petrobras/DAC Mercury 2.5 litre powered pilot his 8th career ‘top spot’, as he leads the field of drivers from 8 different contries from the Provdiv Rowing Channel for the 1st Annual Grand Prix of Bulgaria.
The 8th Round of the U.I.M. F1 World Championship for powerboating was mired in protests at days end as the timing of Roggiero’s top time of 34.11 seconds around the 2 pin, 1 kilometer course was challenged and then protested by fellow pilots. After reviewing times by U.I.M. officals the time stood and Roggiero was awarded top spot. Massimo had worked hard to get his boat back out on the water and saved his best performance for the final few minutes of the 2nd session of the day in qualifying. In the ‘shootout’ of the top 6 pilots, Massimo wasn’t able to go faster as he recorded a 36.47 time. His 2nd session time gives him his first pole position since Moscow a year ago.
Defending World Champion, Guido Cappellini of Como, Italy and lead driver of the Laserline/Castrol DAC/Mercury 2.5 litre team, was very upset and demanded that the times be questioned. His time of a 35.48 was not quick enough to get his 4th of the season as he tried very hard in the final minutes of the 2nd session to take pole. It was remarkable for him to get as close as he did considering he was returning after a nasty crash 2 weeks ago at the Grand Prix of Poland that saw him miss the race for the first time since 1990 while spending the night in the hospital. Cappellini has won 7 of the last 13 ‘classic’ 2-pin race courses and will look to snap his 3 race winless streak.
Ever improving and faster Italian youngster Francesco Cantando of the Singha Beer DAC/Mercury 2.5 litre powered team led the time sheets for much of the day only to be bounced out of top spot first by American Scott Gillman and then by fellow Italian Cappellini. Cantando, another pilot who was not happy with the scoring results was upset that hist teammate Duarte Benavente of Portugal has his time erased off the board when he had been timed with a 34.72 in the 1st session. Benevente officially finished in the 6th spot with a time of 37.41 at days end.
Colorado pilot Scott Gillman, the leader of the Pole Position Award and lead driver for the Adnoc Lubes/National Bank of Abu Dhabi DAC/Mercury 2.5 litre machine with 4 top spots, had his 3 race number 1 plate taken away as he ripped off a 35.87 time which was fastest until his time slipped behind the trio of Italians. Gillman, was representing the pilots in the protest and didn’t get a chance to go for pole in the ‘shootout’ after breaking his engine late in the 2nd session as he pressed hard to get pole position back. His 4th place starting spot is his 2nd worst starting position of the season since his 5th in Belgium back in May.
Fabio Comparato, teammate to Cappellini and 2nd in the World Championship with 78 points, two behind Cappellini and 4 ahead of Gillman, ran a steady time of 36.52 and will start in the 5th spot off the dock. Comparato wants to keep up his streak of finishing every race this season and continue to chase Cappellini for the title.
The first of the OMC powered boats, with Jonathan Jones at the controls of his Fuchs/Eurobet OMC/Burgess 3 litre machine worked his was up to 7th with a time of 37.57 never really looking like he would be a challenge for pole position for the first time in a few races this season.
Awad Al Qubaisi, the 26 year old native of Abu Dhabi, U.A.E., continues to show improvement with his new 2.5 litre engine while piloting his Adnoc Lubes/National Bank of Abu Dhabi DAC/Mercuy to a time of 38.06 and 8th on the grid.
Rounding out the top 10 were Carlos Maidana in his Texaco Havoline OMC machine with a 9th qualifying position with a 38.55 and wrapping up the top 10 qualiyers was Fabrizio Bocca in his Rainbow Racing DAC/Mercury 2.5 litre machine and a time of 38.61.
The 1st Annual Grand Prix of Bulgaria will start at 17:00 local time, 14:00 GMT and 10:00 Eastern Daylight Time in North America.
The question for this event will be, can Cappellini get around Roggiero and get back on the winning track once again, or will Gillman or Cantando or even Roggiero continue to keep the guessing game alive on whom really wants to be World Champion in the year 2000. It will be high drama at the start of this historic event in Bulgaria!
