| Sheikh Hassan and Matteo Nicolini were the early pace setters for Saturday’s Dubai Grand, the final round of the 2007 WPPA Class 1 World Powerboat Championship, setting the fastest time of 2m 37.34s around the 4.4Nm circuit in today’s official practice. "We used a new set of propellers today and this for sure made an improvement in terms of performance," said Matteo Nicolini. "This was a good session for the team – for us to go quicker than Spirit and for Abdullah and Luca to be up there to. On this course where the top speed is not as fast as some of the circuits we have raced – the V8 can be very competitive." Qatar 96’s rivals for the runners-up spot in the world championship and for the Class 1 Middle East title, Spirit of Norway, were second quickest with Qatar |
95 the best of the V8 outfits in third ahead of Negotiator, who broke an engine, and Jotun, who were lucky not to hit the breakwater inside Palm Island after a spin out. Victory 77’s practice session was hindered by a technical problem, with Al Zafeen and Sanchez completing only one timed lap and finishing down in seventh place behind their team-mates. Giampaolo Montavoci and Marco Pennesi struggled throughout the session with steering problems that cost them valuable time in the turns inside the Palm, with Foresti & Suardi recording the eighth quickest time in front of Spirit of Norway 20. In tomorrow’s Edox Pole Position, Bjorn Gjelsten and Steve Curtis will bid to become the first pairing to be unbeaten in qualifying in a season by making it seven wins out of seven. |
