"BATTLE OF THE BALTIC" IN GERMANY THIS WEEKEND!
4 DRIVERS STILL IN FIGHT FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP CROWN!

LAUSANNE, Switzerland (31^st July) – Is the German race fan spoiled? Well, they are this week! Why? Because less than 7 days after the German Grand Prix hosted by the FIA F1 World Championship for auto racing leaves the west central city of Hockenheim, the country of Germany will host another F1 event this weekend, the U.I.M. F1 World Championship for power boating. This time the action will be on the water in the inner harbor near the Baltic Sea in the Northestern city of Stralsund for the Grand Prix of Germany.

It's the first time since 1995 that the F1 series has returned to Germany since June of that year when native son Michael Werner won at Brandenburg his final F1 victory of his memorable career. This year, the series moves to the historic location of Stralsund a city of just shy of 900 years old. The one-time Swedish area is the gateway to the beautiful beaches and resort area of Rugen Island which is only 4 km away.

The race will mark the return of 4-time World Champion Jonathan Jones of Cardigan, Wales who will compete for the first time since Malaysia back in February. Jones, who last won the title in 1998, DNF'd in his only appearance after 30 laps and has been trying to put a package together that would bring him back to F1 since that time when a sponsorship deal that he thought had been completed fell through.

With the cancellation of the Grand Prix of Russia in Moscow, the series moves into a critical time for the championship run with four drivers still having a good shot for the title. Italian Guido Cappellini's crash in Sardinia not only ended the Assicom lead driver his 4 race win streak, but also opened the door back open for the title run. Steady running Frenchman Philippe Dessertenne of the Fuchs Team is now just 19 points back of Cappellini with 61 points coming off a 3^rd place finish in Cagliari. Despite Philippe's non winning record on his F1 resume during his career, this season he has driven smartly and has reached the podium 3 times and finished every race with 5 top 5 finishes to stay in the hunt for the title.

Four points behind Dessertenne is Italian Francesco Cantando of the Singha Beer/Waircom effort, with a 4^th in Sardinia now sitting with 56 points on the strength of 3 podium finishes and still within shouting distance of his first F1 title. Cantando, who like defending World Champion Scott Gillman a year ago, reached the podium 9 times and came within 2 points of tying Gillman for the crown. This year he hopes to do one better and he still has time to prove it.

Latvian driver and latest winner on the tour Victor Kunitch of the Vivid Team comes away with new confidence with his first ever trip to the "top of the box" on the podium with 41 points now in his pocket for the year. This weekend, besides hoping for a 2^nd straight victory will add a new German driver who will be with him this weekend on the Baltic.

Two talented drivers who saw their title hopes all but dashed at the event in Cagliari were Saudi Arabian driver Laith Pharaon who was sitting in 2^nd and ready to pick up 15 points on the final lap until his engine expired and saw him slip to 8^th picking up just 3 points. While the Hyatt Hotel driver was dropping off the scoring sheets quickly, another kind of luck came to Italian Massimo Roggiero who was claimed by officials to have hit a bouy, thus losing 3^rd place finally finishing 12^th even after officially protesting the decision finished with no points instead of another podium finish for the year 2001.

Other drivers who had good results and are hoping to carry their good luck into this event are Portugal's Duarte Benavente who was 5^th in his Siemens/Castrol Burgess, Italian Ivan Torta, who started 16^th and finished 6^th in his Singha Beer/Waircom boat and fellow Italian Fabrizio Bocca coming from 21^st to 7^th in his Rainbow Racing DAC hull taking his best result of the season so far.

Colorado driver Scott Gillman finished his first event of the season with a 2^nd in Sardinia after 5 straight DNF's this season for the lead driver of the 3 boat Emirates Team. Gillman's results are by far his worst in his career and with his British Burgess back after major repairs following his tremendous crash in Latvia that almost destroyed the craft, he is feeling good about taking the role as "wildcard" driver and hoping to continue his streak of winning at least one race in every season since joining the tour in 1997. With his chances for back to back titles are all but gone in 2001 a win would take some of the sting out of an otherwise long season.

The race course in Stralsund will be a small bull ring with a 1.5 kilometer lap making it the smallest of the season with 9 turns all to the left in a series of short straights that drivers hope they can connect as "sweepers" that they won't have to lift off the throttle with very often. It will be a challenge and will take place this Sunday the 5^th of August the Grand Prix of Germany, the 7^th round of the U.I.M. F1 World Championship for power boating.