Gillman on Pole for Portugal F1 Grand Prix

by Philippe Stiernon on 13 May 2007 Defending World Champion Scott Gillman of the Emirates Team captured his first pole position since December of 2005 and the American driver will lead the field of 23 drivers from 10 different nations on the Arade River for the 9th Annual Grand Prix of Portugal in the picturesque city of Portimao for the opening round of the 2007 U.I.M. F1 World Championship for power boating.

Gillman improved by 9/10's of a second from his previous fast time of the day and put down a 41:46 second lap on the 1.66 kilometer 8-turn circuit to take his 28th career pole position and his second on the Arade River.

'We had a solid effort today and kept getting quicker as the afternoon rolled along being quickest when we needed too,' said Scott. 'Tomorrow we hope to win for a second time here in Portugal and start off the season in the championship lead when the afternoon is over.'

Starting next to Gillman will be his young protégé Thani Al Qamzi who is coming off his final race victory of 2006 with a fine second place and a time of 42.20 gaining his best qualifying ever in Portimao in five tries.

'I was very happy with my boat today,' stated Thani. 'I have a good feeling about tomorrow and I know that Scott will be very fast so hopefully whether it is myself or Scott winning, that it’s an Emirates Team 1-2.'

Starting third will be last years pole sitter Sami Selio of the F1 Team Energy squad with a time of 42.42 improving from the 5th quick time that he had coming into the final Top-6 Shootout at the end of the afternoon that saw each of the top six drivers getting two solo laps to take pole position.

Jonas Andersson driving for F1 Team Sweden started off 2007 as a possible player for the world title with a fine fourth place and a time of 43.11 improving on his 14th starting position from a year ago when he participated in his very first F1 event.

Guido Cappellini of the Tamoil Team who has won this race more than anyone else, came into the Shootout with the quickest time in the two qualifying sessions only to fail to complete a lap and had the boat stop dead in the water as he was beginning to take his first of two lap runs for pole. With his mechanical miss-queue he will start fifth.

Qatar Team driver Jay Price of New Orleans, Louisiana had been running very quickly from the start having the fastest time for the first hour of qualifying only to have gear case failure and then a part fall off the engine missing the top six shootout completely relegating him to sixth position on the grid with a time of 43.14 around the 1.66 kilometer course.

Local driver Duarte Benavente just missed making the shootout by 1/10th of a second and will be starting seventh with a time of 43.24 looking for his 1st career podium at his home Grand Prix with a 4th place in the 2000 race being his best performance so far.

David Trask of the XPV Racing Team came home eighth quickest with a 43.29 for the Brisbane, Australia driver who has one finish in three starts in Portimao with an eighth place finish in 2005.

Frenchman Philippe Dessertenne driving his CTIC China Charente Maritime Team DAC was ninth with a 43.38 second lap while hoping to get his second career podium finish tomorrow since he finished third in 2001.

Rounding out the top 10 was French driver Philippe Chiappe driving for the first time in his career for the Atlantic Team as he steered his BABA boat to a time of 44.46 looking to finish for the fifth straight time in Portimao and improve on his 8th place he scored in 2006.

So, the full field of 23 drivers from four different continents are expected to take the start of the ninth Annual Grand Prix of Portugal on the Arade River opening up the 2007 U.I.M. F1 World Championship for power boating and the 26th year since its inception.

Race time will be 14:00 local, 13:00 GMT; 15:00 CET and 09:00 EDT on the East Coast of North America.