PHARAON HAS ONE EYE ON TITLE WITH FIRST CAREER WIN!
BOTH GILLMAN & CAPPELLINI FAIL TO FINISH IN MALAYSIA!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: JOHOR BARU, MALAYSIA (25TH FEB)— Who he? Saudi Arabian driver Laith Pharaon surprised the racing world today by winning the opening round of the 2001 U.I.M. F1 World Championship for power boating. He took a thrilling .82 second victory over Finnish driver Sami Selio and Italian Francesco Cantando holding them off on the final corner of the 60th lap of the Grand Prix of Malaysia.

Pharaon, no stranger to victories on the world offshore racing stage, won his first "inshore" event in only his 6th start on the tour. The driver who has homes in Paris, France and Orlando, Florida as well as Saudi Arabia, struggled to see the course when he lost his contact from one of his eyes early in the event. "Yah, I stayed close to the pins because I couldn’t see," joked the Malaysian winner. "I have a new boat this season and the longer DAC model is really to my liking and my confidence is sky high now." Pharaon who started racing on the tour in France last season, spent most of 2000 on a quick learning curve, crashing heavily twice, now has a boat to his liking and the Hyatt Hotels and Resorts team leads the championship with 20 points.

For the young Finnish start Selio, his result couldn’t have come at a better time as he continues to search for sponsorship to carry him through the season. Powered by his 3-litre OMC engine, Selio ran strong and led for many laps before finally losing the lead on the restart just past the halfway point and pushed hard to regain it only to fall short by less than a second.

Italian Francesco Cantando started slowly, struggling to read the lights at the start and then not having the propeller he wanted, despite all of this, came charging up from the bottom of the grid to put on a push for the lead finishing 1.48 seconds back. His third place finish gives him 12 points and also stops his 2 race win streak that he carried over from the 2000 campaign.

For pole-sitter and World Champion American Scott Gillman he had very quiet day. He became a non- factor after starting late from the dock struggling to read the start lights and falling to the back of the pack, then charging towards the front only to have his engine trim pump break, ending his day after 4 laps.

Guido Cappellini of Como, Italy started 2nd and also ran into trouble with a late start, charging like Gillman pushing forward and was up to 12th place before getting tied up with Malaysian driver K. Y. Loi. Loi destroyed his Seebold boat as he barrel rolled spectacularly at the end of the front straight going into the 3rd turn of the 6 turn 2-kilometer course. Cappellini retired on the spot.

Frenchman Philippe Dessertenne in is first race with 2.5 litre Mercury power was up in the top 5 all afternoon finally finishing in a fine 4th spot on the new Arab Malaysian team, while his teammate Jonathan Jones had a heart breaking stoppage on the 30th lap closing in on the lead when his transom gave way and he had to stop. Jari Honkala in only his 3rd start finished a strong 5th after starting 9th and veteran English driver Andy Elliot proved once again why he still is one of the best in the world with a 6th place finish in his 2-litre powered boat after starting 11th.

Another rookie Ivan Torta, was 7th after starting 17th for a good charge from the back, while Duarte Benavente was 8th after being back in 16th position on the start pontoon bringing a small smile to his face. Veteran Italian Franco Leidi came home in 9th position after qualifying 19th and finishing off the top 10 as rookie New Zealand pilot Malcolm Jamieson who started 15th and enjoyed his first F1 outing.

The bad luck story of the day has to go to Latvian pilot Victor Kunitch. Kunitch led from the start and held the lead for over half the race until getting tied up with Emirates Team driver Awad Al Qubaisi in what was shaping up to be a Cinderella finish for the Vivid Racing Team driver. He was running strong and no one driver really closing in his leading boat. It all ended on the 38th tour for Victor and the Latvian victory party was quickly cancelled.

Others to make their mark were Salem Al Khattal of Dubai, U.A.E. who started last and was up in the top 5 for Michael Werner’s Team driving for the Culture Club of the UAE before stopping on the 46th lap. Argentinian driver Carlos Maidana in the 2nd OMC powered boat was starting to move up when he dropped out in the 21st lap. All in all, 13 boats failed to finish in what turned out to be a grueling afternoon of racing.

So, with the first race in the books for the 2001 season, a 5 week break now settles in as the teams get ready to head to Portimao, Portugal for the 8th of April race date and the 2nd round of the 12 race U.I.M. F1 World Championship season. With a new winner and some surprising results with a field of 24 drivers from 14 different countries the new campaign looks only more exciting as we mark the 20th Anniversary year of U.I.M. F1 racing.

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