Australian David Trask gains 1st Pole at GP-France

by Philippe Stiernon on 20 May 2007 Strong winds, waves and north winds forced the final Top-6 Shootout to be cancelled at the end of the afternoon at the 18th Grand Prix of France, prematurely closing out qualifying at the second round of the U.I.M. F1 World Championship for power boating before thousands of race fans who came from throughout the region on the west coast city of La Rochelle.

Qualifying day started under bright sunshine but as the day wore on stronger winds and tides forced the drivers to accept their first of two qualifying sessions to be their official fastest time of the day with the water conditions deteriorating by the hour.

Taking full advantage of this was Australian David Trask of the XPV Racing team who earned his first ever pole position with a quick time of a 49.05 second lap around the 6-pin 2.06 kilometre course.

’We are truly excited about our first ever pole position,’ stated the Queenslander. ‘We hit the water at the exact time and it paid off for us and we hope we can continue our good fortune tomorrow as well.’

Second was defending World Champion Scott Gillman of the Emirates team with a 49.14 lap despite a heavy case of the flu making the veteran feel very uncomfortable all day in the cockpit.

Third quickest for the second straight race of 2007 was Sami Selio of the F1 Team Energy squad running a 49.31 second lap with Thani Al Qamzi of the Emirates squad with a 49.45, Italian Guido Cappellini of the Tamoil team fifth with a 49.54 and American Jay Price of the Qatar team rounding out the top six with a 49.74.

Missing out of the top six were a pair of local French drivers in Philippe Chiappe of the Atlantic team with a 49.99 and hometown hero Philippe Dessertenne of the CTIC China Charente Maritime team with a 50.13 feeling the pressure of putting the race together as well as being a driver as well.

Swedish driver Jonas Andersson of the F1 Team Sweden was ninth after breaking his primary engine early in the day as British driver Andy Elliott of the ACE Racing effort finished tenth in qualifying with a 50.32 second time despite running just a few laps in his first event of the season.

Twenty-four drivers from eleven different nations will take the start for tomorrow's 18th Grand Prix of France in the inner harbour of the historic city of La Rochelle for the second round of the 2007 U.I.M. F1 World Championship for power boating. The race time has been moved up to a 13:30 hour start because of possible strong weather conditions that are expected to move in later in the day.