UIM Class 1 Powerboat - Zabo Racing ups its stakes

by Class One Powerboat on 15 May 2011 Zabo Racing has upped the stakes in its bid to challenge for race wins and title honours this season, swooping in to buy the ex-Fazza boat from Dubai’s Victory Team.

Following several weeks of negotiations, Jan Zaborowski, team boss of the Norwegian outfit, sealed the deal after the season-opener in Abu Dhabi. 'We got the boat under a fantastic deal from Victory, and it would have been crazy not to take up such an offer,' he said, adding. 'The offer was based on the fact that Victory see Zabo Racing as being one of thee most enthusiastic teams in Class 1, and are impressed by the effort that we put in on such a small and tight financial budget, and felt that it justified helping us to ensure Class 1 remains highly competitive.'

The purchase of the ‘super-hull’ is a timely move by Zaborowski after seeing his Maritimo hull Relekta sidelined in race 1 in Abu Dhabi, after crashing out on lap four - but remarkably, thanks to a Herculean effort by the whole team, made the start line for race 2.

It has been a roller-coaster ride for the team since its launch at the Norwegian Grand Prix in Arendal in 2010, with the fledgling outfit impressing from the start, grabbing their first podium in Abu Dhabi last year.

There is now an air of excitement within the team that they have the complete package to step-up their title challenge, which ironically now hinges on a multi-championship winning raceboat that sliced through Relekta in Uddevalla in Sweden, in one of the most dramatic crashes seen in Class 1.

It’s not clear yet whether the team will run two boats for the remainder of the 2011 season, something that team manager Adrian Annett says is simply ‘all down to a matter of economics and funding but they have the team infrastructure to do so’.

What is clear is that they will continue to use their new Mercury 1075 SCi V8 power-plants, and that the new partnership of Christian Zaborowski and Ugur Isik - who produced some impressive times in their first outing together despite the slight gliche! - now has the package to mix it at the front of the pack and challenge for honours.

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