CAPPELLINI WALKS TO 2^ND STRAIGHT WIN OF 2001 !
CANTANDO & ROGGIERO FINISH IN TOP 3!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE : Dunajuvaros, Hungary (19^TH May) — Italian Guido Cappellini came from behind, took the lead on the 11^th lap and then went on to dominate the 13^th Annual Grand Prix of Hungary, the 3^rd stop on the 2001 U.I.M. F1 World Championship tour for motor boating.

A field of 23 drivers from a record breaking 15 different nations were on hand for the start as pole sitter Massimo Roggiero led from the start and pulled away to a 10 boat lead before the first lap was completed and then stopped with Italian Franco Leidi came to a halt in turn two. On the restart, Massimo led again with Lairth Pharaon of Saudi Arabia and current World Champion Scott Gillman of the Emirates Team battling their way into the top three. Cappellini of the Assicom team found himself in 4^th place and forced to charge forward, past first Gillman and then Pharaon into first place.

Gillman’s day ended on the 25^th lap after struggling backwards to 9^th place before giving up the battle for points with an ill handling package. As the current title holder still has no points in 2001he still hasn’t given up the fight saying, "Last year I was 45 points behind and still won it all, now I’m 40 points from the lead and their is still two-thirds of a season to run."

Cappellini, once in the lead flew away with a good pace keeping in the 41 second range on the 2-pin 1.6 kilometer course pushing away from the field by 2 seconds a lap. The native of Como, Italy later did a sub 40 second tour which was the only pilot of the day to do so. The win gives Cappellini 40 points and moves him into 1^st place in the world championship standings.

Italian Francesco Cantando was 2^nd and happy with the result feeling his race setup was not his best going into the event. He had a steady race working his way from 7^th place at the start in his Singha Beer machine to finish 17 seconds behind Cappellini. Cantando now has 27 points and is tied for 3^rd in the title chase.

The 3^rd Italian to make the podium was Roggiero who hung on to take third for the 2^nd straight year and tie Cantando for 3^rd with 27 points.

Frenchman Philippe Dessertenne had a smart race starting 11^th and finishing 4^th to move back into 2^nd in the world points standings with 30 points after leading the table coming into the event with 21. Dessertenne now has a 3^rd and two 4ths this season in the Fuchs team.

Sami Selio of Finland was 5^th and the first Johnson powered 3 litre boat in the event. The Exide sponsored pilot has now finished 2 of three for the year and came forward in the race after starting 10^th. Japanese driver Yutaka Sugihara raced for the first time here since 1997 and was 6^th the same as his last run on the Danube.

Abu Dhabi driver Awad Al Qubaisi had his firs points scoring day since race four a year ago in Latvia by taking 7^th place. The Emirates team driver started 14^th and finished in front of his 2^nd teammate Thani Al Qamzi who was 17^th failing to complete the distance.

Italian Fabrizio Bocca was 8^th after 15^th starting position while Argentinian Carlos Maidana struggled with engine problems after starting 8^th and settled for 9^th position and his first points of the season.

Rounding out the top 10 was Italian Ivan Torta who started 13^th and placed 10^th to give both drivers of the Singha Beer team points.

Cappellini has now moved into first position on the championship points table with wins in two of the first 3 events of 2001. Now its off two weeks from now for the 2^nd Annual Grand Prix of Latvia in Riga. A year ago American Scott Gillman picked up his first win of the season while Cappellini dropped out. This could be a time for Latvian driver Victor Kunitch to shine in front of his home town fans after missing out on the podium a season ago.