This morning saw the first real action on the water when the Powerboat P1 fleet took to the Praia da Rocha for a time trial, demonstrating to the enthusiastic crowds the awesome power and speeds that these race boats can produce ahead of this afternoon's first leg of the Portuguese Grand Prix of the Sea. It was a race of skill and power as the boats battled in pairs against the clock, reaching speeds of around 85mph along the 1.25 nautical mile course.
The SuperSport class were the first to show their metal as the Mercury-powered Extremeboat went head-to-head with the Sunseeker Challenger boat of Andy Wilby and Gavin Brown. The battle of these two boats carried on right up until the finishing line with the husband and wife pairing of Jackie Hunt and Mike Shelton taking the win. Fellow Britons Jan Falkowski and Drew Langdon in Buzzi Bullet III took the win over the American-built VoomVoom.com by a few boat lengths and the Chinese Sun Lik Beer team taking a comfortable lead from start to |
finish over the Belgian wild card entry, FORpleasure. The final showdown of the class saw the two Chaudron boats battle it out with championship leaders Roscioli Hotels Roma taking the win over the Maltese brother and sister pairing in Chaudron 2.
It was then the chance for the Evolution class to flex their muscle. The first boats to attack the Praia da Rocha were the two wild card entries of SIF and The Switch, with the CUV 40 of Vittorio Foglia Manzillo and Renato Guidi beating the Extreme 39 of Bernard Albertini and Eric Brotons. Then came the turn of championship challengers Giancarlo Cangiano and Giovanni Carpitella in the Sterling-powered Donzi, the Italians beating the German Searex team in their Fountain 42. Championship leaders King of Shaves opted out of their time trial run, choosing to work on their setup for this afternoon's first leg of the Grand Prix. |
