2 WEEKS BEFORE START OF “EURO” SEASON IN PORTIMAO!
MORE NEW FACES EXPECTED AS TEAMS FALL INTO PLACE!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND (20^TH MARCH) – One race gone and already it’s looking as if the 20^th Anniversary edition of the U.I.M. F1 World Championship is going to be one of surprises, as the teams head back to Europe from Malaysia for the 3^rd Annual Grand Prix of Portugal in the beautiful city of Portimao located on Portugal’s south coast on the 8^th of April.

The opening round of the 2001 campaign saw a series of wild surprises with first time winners, race leaders and drivers hi-liting an event that was expected to be “as usual” with current World Champion American Scott Gillman battling a pair of Italian’s in 5-time World titlest Guido Cappellini and upstart Francesco Cantando. But, the Grand Prix of Malaysia was anything but normal, as all three pilots were stalled at the dock while the rest of the field stormed away at the start and giving new faces a chance to show off their talents in early leader Victor Kunitch of Lativia and later Sami Selio finishing runner-up from the 10^th starting position while race winner Laith Pharaon took the 2^nd closest win of the decade in only his 7^th true start of his career.

With Gillman and Cappellini not a factor with both dropping out early in the event and with Cantando finishing a close 3^rd, the championship looks to be wide open at the early moments of this 12 event season and more surprises are expected with the shuffling of new drivers and teams coming to the Algarve coast.

Italian Fabio Comparato, teammate to Cappellini on the DAC Team a year ago and who started last off the dock in Portugal only to finish 5^th is expected to make his first appearance since his devastating crash last November in Sharjah. He will join with returning driver Gert Ladefoged of Denmark on the new “Viking” Team. Meanwhile, with some teams not locking up a 2^nd driver in Malaysia expect to see more single pilots getting “hitched” to other drivers for the 2 boat team requirements set by Portugal.

The past two season’s have seen nothing but Italian start Guido Cappellini dominate the event. He has never failed to lead a lap and has won both starts. In ’99 it was Cappellini taking pole position with a 47.94 second lap around the 9-pin 1.8 kilometer lap and halding off Scott Gillman who finished 2^nd despite having trim problems with his boat. Jonathan Jones of Wales started 4^th and was water logged all day when his boat filled up with water at the start pontoon and eventually took 8^th position. Massimo Roggiero of Italy started 5^th and took 4^th at the finish while Comparato started 5^th was up to 3^rd only to finish 5^th at the end.

Last season it was Gillman who had pole position but knew he was in trouble early when he was forced to switch to his smaller 2.0 litre engine after igniting his 2.5 litre engine in practice. Cappellini took full advantage of this at the start and powered away and led to the finish while Francesco Cantando made a great start from the 5^th position to 2^nd on the first lap and held it to the end. 1992 World Champion Fabrizio Bocca had a great outing starting 4^th and just missed a shot at 2^nd place at the end settling for 3^rd on the day.

Portugal’s Duarte Benavente made the shootout starting 6^th and had a great run to 4^th on e of 4 top 5 finishes during the season for the youngster who will once again get a lot of attention at his home Grand Prix.

So, with the race teams getting their boats back from their long haul from Malaysia expect to see new boats ready to arrive in the paddock along with new faces and old ready to take aim at the inner harbor of the picturesque city of Portimao and Round 2 of the 12 event quest for the World Championship.

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