dmartiniup
08-07-2009, 01:41 PM
Gothenburg, Sweden is a city that takes boating seriously. Its Royal Yacht Club boasts 40,000 members, its International Yacht Training school is 40 years old and trains commercial yacht captains as well as recreational boaters. The Sailing Association is organized to plan racing events and the Sea Rescue organization is the group that melds these groups together in Langedrag, one of the waterfront areas of this sizable port city—the second largest in Sweden. Though it is primarily sailing-oriented, the community has welcomed the Powerboat P1 (http://www.powerboatp1.com)World Championship that is bringing international racing back to town—for the first time since Formula 1 visited Gothenburg in the late 70’s. The wet and dry pits are located on a motorsports race track in Frihanman, just on the outskirts of the center-city which is criss-crossed by canals on the water’s edge.
The weather is unseasonably warm for summer in Sweden and locals are jubilant over the change in temperatures and the bright sunshine that entered the town with the powerboats this week. After Friday’s scheduled testing, the six Evolution and eight SuperSport class boats took off for the PowerPole competition, vying for top position for Saturday’s Sprint race.
The US was represented by several of its industry leaders as Rik Wimp of Arneson Industries (http://www.arneson-industries.com), Carmen Betanger Martin of Aeromarine (http://www.aeromarineone.com) and Ian Hawkins of Ilmor Performance (http://www.ilmor.com) all made visits to Powerboat P1 to support their teams, or in the case of Aeromarine, to research and seek agreements with some new teams for its windscreens. And while US brands like Outerlimits, Cigarette, Fountain and Donzi are raced by European teams, the US-based Outerlimits team was on the course to try to shake its recent engine problems and bring another checkered flag back home.
Though the parts of the waters are today calm in what is locally known as the convergence of the Skagerack and Kattegat into the North Sea, the archipelago around which the race course is staged creates a great challenge for the racers trying to navigate the buoys on the islands’ fringe. There are no short cuts in this course that won’t end literally in a rocky situation. The course also parallels a commercial shipping lane which can cause some unexpected wakes—as was the case with the SuperSport SW1 Capital Donzi on its PowerPole run.
“When you’re by yourself you get around OK,” said driver Daniel Cramphorn, “It’s going to be a lot different story when three or more of us are going into that first turn! So long as everyone drives sensibly it should be a safe race.”
Luca Formilli Fendi of the Cigarette Smash Poker team agreed, “It was tough [to navigate] with rocks everywhere—it’s another thing tomorrow. Whoever is ahead going into the first turn will have a strong advantage—it will be difficult to pass.”
The Powerboat P1 Scandinavian Grand Prix starts Saturday, August 7 with the Sprint race at 1:45 PM 7:45 AM (EST) followed by the Endurance Race at the same time on Sunday, August 8. Tune in to www.p1radio.com to hear Steve Anscell and Martin Sanborn provide exciting deck-to-deck action. All eyes will be on the leaders going down the opening straight-away into the first hair-pin turn—don’t miss the action! www.powerboatp1.com (http://www.powerboatp1.com)
PowerPole Results August 6, 2009
Classified Results (Evolution):
1. #33 Furnibo (Pierre Colpin / Frank Hemelaer) Time: 02:39.09
2. #88 SNAV OSG (Hannes Bohinc / Giovanni Carpitella) 02:42.68
3. #10 Cigarette Smash Poker (Luca Formilli Fendi / Matteo Nicolini) 02:44.97
6. #47 Silverline (Jan Falkowski / Drew Langdon) DNS
6. #66 Cranefield Wines (Mark Niemann / Gino Passchier) DNS
6. #77 Lucas Oil Budweiser (Joe Sgro / Nigel Hook / Mike Fiore) DNS
Classified Results (Supersport):
1. #38 Baia Attolini (Stefano Acanfora / Renato Guidi / Roy Capasso) Time: 03:10.11
2. #43 Seagull Chaudron (Aaron Ciantar / Angelo Tedesci / Viktor Shemchuk 03:11.41
3. #26 Team SW1 Capital (Daniel Cramphorn / Kim Collins) 03:14.00
4. #17 MasForce (Micha Robyn / Patrick Huybreghts / Marc Sluszny) 03:14.71
5. #82 Goldfish (Pal Sollie / Christian Feldt) 03:25.09
6. #22 Big Sergio (Alfredo Nuzzo / Alfredo Amato) 03:26.17
7. #44 Ikocasa (Shelley Jory / Audrien Ciantar) DNS
8. #28 Blue Shaft (Gianbattista Gabriele / Alfredo Zanardo / Federico Montanari) DQ
The weather is unseasonably warm for summer in Sweden and locals are jubilant over the change in temperatures and the bright sunshine that entered the town with the powerboats this week. After Friday’s scheduled testing, the six Evolution and eight SuperSport class boats took off for the PowerPole competition, vying for top position for Saturday’s Sprint race.
The US was represented by several of its industry leaders as Rik Wimp of Arneson Industries (http://www.arneson-industries.com), Carmen Betanger Martin of Aeromarine (http://www.aeromarineone.com) and Ian Hawkins of Ilmor Performance (http://www.ilmor.com) all made visits to Powerboat P1 to support their teams, or in the case of Aeromarine, to research and seek agreements with some new teams for its windscreens. And while US brands like Outerlimits, Cigarette, Fountain and Donzi are raced by European teams, the US-based Outerlimits team was on the course to try to shake its recent engine problems and bring another checkered flag back home.
Though the parts of the waters are today calm in what is locally known as the convergence of the Skagerack and Kattegat into the North Sea, the archipelago around which the race course is staged creates a great challenge for the racers trying to navigate the buoys on the islands’ fringe. There are no short cuts in this course that won’t end literally in a rocky situation. The course also parallels a commercial shipping lane which can cause some unexpected wakes—as was the case with the SuperSport SW1 Capital Donzi on its PowerPole run.
“When you’re by yourself you get around OK,” said driver Daniel Cramphorn, “It’s going to be a lot different story when three or more of us are going into that first turn! So long as everyone drives sensibly it should be a safe race.”
Luca Formilli Fendi of the Cigarette Smash Poker team agreed, “It was tough [to navigate] with rocks everywhere—it’s another thing tomorrow. Whoever is ahead going into the first turn will have a strong advantage—it will be difficult to pass.”
The Powerboat P1 Scandinavian Grand Prix starts Saturday, August 7 with the Sprint race at 1:45 PM 7:45 AM (EST) followed by the Endurance Race at the same time on Sunday, August 8. Tune in to www.p1radio.com to hear Steve Anscell and Martin Sanborn provide exciting deck-to-deck action. All eyes will be on the leaders going down the opening straight-away into the first hair-pin turn—don’t miss the action! www.powerboatp1.com (http://www.powerboatp1.com)
PowerPole Results August 6, 2009
Classified Results (Evolution):
1. #33 Furnibo (Pierre Colpin / Frank Hemelaer) Time: 02:39.09
2. #88 SNAV OSG (Hannes Bohinc / Giovanni Carpitella) 02:42.68
3. #10 Cigarette Smash Poker (Luca Formilli Fendi / Matteo Nicolini) 02:44.97
6. #47 Silverline (Jan Falkowski / Drew Langdon) DNS
6. #66 Cranefield Wines (Mark Niemann / Gino Passchier) DNS
6. #77 Lucas Oil Budweiser (Joe Sgro / Nigel Hook / Mike Fiore) DNS
Classified Results (Supersport):
1. #38 Baia Attolini (Stefano Acanfora / Renato Guidi / Roy Capasso) Time: 03:10.11
2. #43 Seagull Chaudron (Aaron Ciantar / Angelo Tedesci / Viktor Shemchuk 03:11.41
3. #26 Team SW1 Capital (Daniel Cramphorn / Kim Collins) 03:14.00
4. #17 MasForce (Micha Robyn / Patrick Huybreghts / Marc Sluszny) 03:14.71
5. #82 Goldfish (Pal Sollie / Christian Feldt) 03:25.09
6. #22 Big Sergio (Alfredo Nuzzo / Alfredo Amato) 03:26.17
7. #44 Ikocasa (Shelley Jory / Audrien Ciantar) DNS
8. #28 Blue Shaft (Gianbattista Gabriele / Alfredo Zanardo / Federico Montanari) DQ