Cappellini takes pole, Trask eighth in Qatar

by Steve Michael on 27 Nov 2007 Guido Cappellini saved his best for last as he went out in the fading sunlight to capture pole position for tomorrow's fourth Grand Prix of Qatar with a time of 47.30 on the five pin 1.92 kilometer course on the seaside cornice in downtown Doha, Qatar.

The sixth Round of the 2007 U.I.M. F1 World Championship for power boating is the second of two races within four days time and a very pivotal time for the drivers championship.

The Tamoil Team driver from Como, Italy didn't have an easy day of it having collided with Sami Selio of the F1 Team Energy in the first qualifying session forcing himself to push hard in the latter moments of the second session to reach the top-six 'Shootout' for pole position.

'We fought hard for this pole position today,' said the multi-time World Champion. 'We are pleased in knowing we will be starting earlier tomorrow in the day so both the water conditions will be hopefully less stressful and the visibility will not be a factor.'

While Cappellini was doing his 134 kph record setting lap, his rival for the last four races Thani Al Qamzi of the Emirates Team pushed him to the brink with a sizzling time of 47.67 for the Abu Dhabi driver. Al Qamzi is third in the championship with 55 points, ten behind Cappellini with three races to go.

Jonas Andersson of the F1 Team Sweden came up with his career tying best qualifying performance, a third with a time of 48.51 as he chases his first ever F1 win for the ex-F2 World Champion. Jonas will be looking to do better than his last race here when he dropped out being classified 17th.

Another Swede Pierre Lundin reached the top-6 'Shootout' for the first time in his career and will start fourth in his Comparato Racing DAC boat doing a time of 48.95 second lap.

Qatar Racing driver Jay Price who had a spectacular blow over in qualifying on his second lap last Friday, didn't have the same drama this time around while reaching the top five in qualifying for the second straight event with a 49.10 time. He is desperately needing a victory to have any chance of taking the title this season.

Emirates Team driver Ahmed Al Hamli reached the 'Shootout' at the last minute but had his engine brake before the run for the pole and will start sixth with a time of 49.33 for his first top six performance of his career.

Seventh was an expected Russian driver Stanislov Kourtsenovsky of the F1 Team Energy squad, but after his teammate Selio crashed with Cappellini he has offered his boat to his number one team driver, and most probably sit out tomorrow's race while Sami will start 13th. For Selio, it must be a perfect start since he is second in the championship with 60 points and can't afford to fall farther from Cappellini's lead.

Australian David Trask will start eighth in the XPV Racing GTR boat despite having hull damage ending his qualifying early in the day.

French driver Philippe Chiappe of the Atlantic Team will start ninth on a good effort while another countryman Philippe Tourre takes a career best 10th position in his new DAC boat that will be enjoying it's second race since arriving from Italy this past week.

Drivers from four different continents and 11 different countries will line up for the sixth Round of the 2007 U.I.M. F1 World Championship and the fourth Grand Prix of Qatar along the cornice in lovely downtown Doha in front of what is expected to be thousands of race fans. The Grand Prix will start at 13:00 local, 10:00 GMT and 05:00 EST on the East Coast of North America.