Class One Swedish Grand Prix - Welmax quickest in practice

by UIM Class One on 7 Aug 2010 Swedish Grand Prix - Welmax laid down their marker of intent ahead of this weekend, topping the standings in today’s first official practice session on Uddevalla’s Byfjorden.

The Norwegian duo, who went quickest in qualifying last time out in Arendal, were once again impressive and stole-a-march on the Championship leader’s, Fazza, posting their best time of 2mins 23.86secs around the 4.05Nm circuit, on their second and final flying lap. 'We can improve, but I am happy with our showing in first practice,' said throttleman and team principal, Jorn Tandberg. 'The course is tough, very difficult with extremely tight turns. I think we will see some interesting racing this weekend.'

After an eventful first lap, which saw the Fazza crew of Arif Al Zafeen and Nadir bin Hendi miss-read the course and pass the island in the centre of the circuit on the wrong side, the World Champions got back on track to post a series of respectable times, their quickest 2mins 25.03secs.

Italian, Giovanni Carpitella, once again demonstrated his versatility, producing an equally impressive time to go third fastest in the session on his debut outing with Emirati, Rashed Al Tayer, in Team Abu Dhabi, marking their return to full time participation in the Championship. 'The feel was immediately good and after a couple of laps Rashed showed a good understanding of the boat,' said Carpitella. 'We improved our times lap-by-lap and I am confident we can go quicker tomorrow.'

Talib Al Sayed was satisfied with his performance and produced a respectable showing in Skydive Dubai, in his first competitive outing in a Class 1 since 2007, alongside Abdullah Al Mehairbi.

The all-Italian partnership of Guido Cappellini and Nicola Giorgi in Primatist immediately faired better than their first outings together in Norway, but their session was cut short after breaking a fly-wheel. Relekta’s Christian Zaborowski and Paul Gaiser produced a solid start to their weekend, and throttleman Zaborowski is optimistic that they can improve their times considerably.

Swedish Grand Prix - Official Practice
1. Welmax - K Selmer (NOR) / J Tandberg (NOR) - 02.23,86
2. Fazza - A Al Zafeen (UAE) / N Bin Hendi (UAE) - 02.25,03
3. Team Abu Dhabi - R Al Tayer (UAE) / G Carpitella (ITA) - 02.27,98
4. Skydive Dubai - A Al Mehairbi (UAE) / T Al Sayed (UAE) - 02.29,50
5. Primatist - G Cappellini (ITA) / N Giorgi (ITA) - 02.42,53
6. Relekta - P Gaiser (BRA) / C Zaborowski (NOR) - 02.43,37