ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates – Monday, July 27, 2009 – The Neva River which serpentines it’s way through Europe’s fourth largest city, St. Petersburg, Russia, holds many secrets and most of the drivers of the U.I.M. F1 H2O World Championship for power boating tour will tell you that this 2.01 kilometer six turn course can be one of the most challenging to get right on any circuit in the world.
The city that Peter the Great founded in 1703 had been the capital of the Russian Empire for over 200 years and with its rich history, a new tradition is taking place as the U.I.M. F1 H2O World Championship returns for the seventh time on the head of the Gulf of Finland wrapping up the European season for the 8th Grand Prix of Russia on the weekend of the eighth and ninth of August.
It all begins with the only driver that has raced in every one of the scheduled Grand Prix’s since its inception back in 1995 with Guido Cappellini of Como, Italy who is a three time winner in Russia capturing victories in 1995, 1996 in St. Petersburg and 1997 in Moscow. The lead driver of this year’s Zepter Team comes into the event sitting fourth in the championship this season with 30 points on the strength of a victory at the first Grand Prix event in Lahti, Finland. Guido, who led the race a season ago after earning pole position, is looking for his 59th career victory and a chance to move up in the standings as he chases his 10th World title.
Chasing him will be the duo of Team Abu Dhabi drivers Thani Al Qamzi and his friend and teammate Ahmad Al Hameli who look to continue to impress under the watch full eyes of Team Manager Scott Gillman a four-time World Champion who never lost in St. Petersburg going two for two in 1997 and 1998.
“I feel as if our two drivers Thani and Ahmad are ready to take a win this time around in St. Petersburg,” said Scott. “We had Thani leading last year until his equipment broke and Ahmad qualified well in second place for the race. Thani leads the championship by 18 points and hopes to improve on that with these pair of races in Russia.”
Al Qamzi sits a top the leader board with 53 points on the strength of a win at the Grand Prix of Portugal and a second in Finland, while teammate Al Hameli is fifth with 25 points with a win at the opening event of the season in Portimao on the first weekend of April.
Chasing the United Arab Emirates drivers is Qatar Team driver and defending World Champion Jay Price of New Orleans, Louisiana who comes to St. Petersburg off a solid victory at the last round in Lahti, Finland and now second in the drivers championship with 35 points. Jay has finished either first or second in every race he’s finished in his last nine since 2007 except one and looks for his second pole position of the year.
“We are planning on doing better this time around in St. Petersburg after our terrible weekend here a year ago when I got so sick and the equipment failed us dropping us out early in 20th position,” stated Jay. “This year is going to be better and I want to try to make it two wins in a row and keep pushing Thani at the same time.”
Defending race champion Jonas Andersson with Team Azerbaijan looks for his second straight victory on the Neva River running into good luck a season ago while leaders were dropping out coming up from fourth position to take his second career victory. Currently third in the championship with 32 points he’s got a new team and new sponsors this season and is talented enough not to need luck to win in 2009.
Italian Fabio Comparato reached the podium last year in St. Petersburg with nice third after starting back in the 9th position. The lead driver on the 800 Doctor Team is sixth in the championship with 19 points and has a podium third at the first race in Finland at the last round. Fabio has gone two straight times with a podium in Russia after starting fourth and taking a third back in Moscow back in 1999. Comparato will be looking for his second career victory and his first on the European continent.
Tied for sixth in the championship with Comparato is Duarte Benavente of Portugal who is finally finding his stride again in his new Dragon boat with three straight top 10 performances including a podium third in his home race in Portimao? The F1 Atlantic Team driver last season had an uninspiring 21st position after dropping out early and is looking to not make the same result this season while keeping his top 10 streak alive.
Francesco Cantando has been up and down this season finishing half of the first four starts and had a great second place in Portugal and is in a four way tie for sixth with 19 points. Francesco has raced in Russia since 1997 with a runner-up second place to Scott Gillman in the 1998 being his best result in four previous starts. Last season after tearing up his hull at a crash in Finland the week before the event in St. Petersburg, Francesco elected not to start the race in an unfamiliar boat.
The fourth driver in the sixth position in the drivers championship is 2007 World Champion Sami Selio who is coming into the event with some momentum following a third place at his home Grand Prix at the last round. Sami started the season with two straight failures to finish in Portugal then turned things around with a fifth and a third in Lahti. Now is the time for the lead driver of the Mad Croc F1 Team Woodstock group to repeat last season’s performance when he finished second on the Neva River.
Teammate of Selio’s Massimo Roggiero has the second most starts in Russia arriving for the seventh time looking for his second podium since his first start back in 1996. His third place to Gillman and Cantando back in 1997 driving a Seebold hull seems like another life ago but the builder of the ultra successful BABA race boats is looking to finish his first race of the season while chasing his second pole position of 2009 and his third in Russia.
Rookie Ugis Gross rounds out the top 10 drivers standings in this year’s championship with 10 points. His best has been a seventh at the first race event in Lahti, Finland. He leads the run for the prestigious “Rookie of the Year” honors at the one-third mark in this season’s schedule.
St. Petersburg native Stanislav Kourtsenovsky of the Prox F1 Racing Team has returned to his home race for a second straight year hoping to continue his good luck finishing seventh last season after starting 14th. It was one of his four top 10 performances of 2008 as he prepares for his 34th career F1 start.
Drivers from 14 different countries are expected to take part for the Eighth Grand Prix of Russia and the seventh time that the series has stopped on the edge of the Baltic Sea at the lovely setting of St. Petersburg. This year marks the first time in the history of racing in Russia that there will be back to back Grand Prix events on both Saturday the 8th of August and Sunday, August 9th. Both Grand Prix’s will start 18:00 local, 15:00 GMT and 10:00 EDT on the East Coast of North America. Both events can be followed by going to the U.I.M. F1 H2O website at www.f1h2o.com for live coverage.
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