4-TIME WORLD CHAMPION JONES WITHDRAWS FROM PORTUGAL!
COMPARATO EXPECTED BACK; GAISER SWITCHES TEAMS!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND (2^ND APRIL) – The 2^nd active winningest driver in U.I.M. F1 World Championship tour history Jonathan Jones of Cardigan, Wales looks as if he will miss his first race in almost a decade as he continues to find sponsorship to carry him through the remaining schedule of the 2001 campaign.

Jones, who has won the World Championship 4 times including his last time wearing the #1 plate after capturing the title in the 1998 season, was hoping to continue with the Arab Malaysian Team that he started the year with in Johor Baru, Malaysia. Jones, who has 25 wins on the tour that for him began back in 1981, has been the 2^nd most successful driver in the history of the U.I.M. F1 history. The last time Jones has missed an event was during his World Championship winning season of 1991 when he was gravely injured in a race in Hungary only to come back to take title.

While Jones continues to try to put a package together to get him back on the water, Italian Fabio Comparato is coming back for the first time since his horrendous crash in Sharjah, U.A.E. in November. Comparato, who will team up with new teammate Gert Ladefoged of Denmark on the new Viking Team. Comparato, who battled his way to a top 5 finish in the World Championship title a year ago, will run a DAC boat for the first race back in Portimao and then shift to the new Malgaard design that Ladefoged will run this upcoming weekend.

Brazilian Paul Gaiser, who is starting his 2^nd year on the tour is switching to Michael Werner’s MW Petrobras Team for the remainder of the season. Gaiser had been with the BABA Racing effort during the 2000 campaign. Gaiser, who had started 21^st in the opening round at Johor Bahu, Malaysia dropped out after 22 laps and finished 17^th in the event.

The 2^nd round of the U.I.M. F1 World Championship with be this Sunday, April 8^th for the 3^rd Annual event in Portimao on the beautiful south coast. Italian Guido Cappellini has won both prior races and has led every lap in both events. Will the trend continue or will Cappellini continue to control the field of 22 expected pilots on the Algarve coast.

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