CAPPELLINI SAVES BEST FOR LAST IN SHOOTOUT !
GILLMAN & ROGGIERO IN TOP 3 FOR PORTUGESE GRAND PRIX !

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE : PORTIMAO, PORTUGAL (7^TH APRIL)— Italian Guido Cappellini continued his great run of success on the waters inside the city of Portimao, Portugal and will lead the field of 22 drivers for the 3^rd Annual Grand Prix of Portugal on the U.I.M. F1 World Championship tour.

Cappellini, who had a tough start to the 2001 campaign by failing to finish in Malaysia during the opening round 5 weeks ago, set the fastest time in the 3 year event by doing a 46:68 second lap and a speed of 141.90 kph. The native of Como, Italy struggled all day in is DAC Assicom Team machine and got his engine problems sorted out with a new powerhead on his 2.5 litre Mercury powerplant just before the top 6 shootout at the end of the day.

American Scott Gillman in his Emirates Burgess 2.5 litre machine had held fast time for most of the day and was looking for his 2^nd straight pole in Portugal, but made what he said was a wrong propeller choice and improved slightly with a time of 47.45 and a speed of 139.59kph starting 2^nd off the dock.

Massimo Roggiero of the Baba Team came home 3^rd quickest in his brand new DAC with atime of 47.46 missing Gillman by a 100^th of second with a speed of 139.57kph.

Another Italian, Francesco Cantando is looking to keep his 8 race podium success alive by getting the 4^th quickest time with a 47.84 and 138.46kph. Cantando was near the top all day while taking out a bouy in practice while getting down to business with a time of 47.84 and 138.46kph.

Coming back from injuries suffered in a big way back in Sharjah, U.A.E. in November was Italian Fabio Comparato who leads the new Viking Team with a speed of 136.57kph and a time of 48.50 racing for the first time in two years away from Cappellini and the DAC Team. New teammate Gurt Ladefoged of Denmark ran strongly in his new Malgaard hull for 10^th position with a speed of 128.17kph.

Yutaka Sugihara of Japan with the DAC Team was 7^th with a 50.59 second lap while France’s Philippe Dessertenne was 8^th with a 51.24 second lap was 8^th. Swedish newcomer Jari Honkala did a great job in his 2 litre engine with a 51.47 second lap for 9^th.

The 3^rd Annual Grand Prix of Portugal will start at 15:00 local (14:00 GMT) time and will be run for either 35 laps or 45 minutes on the inner harbour of the beautiful city of Portimao on Portugal’s southern Algarve coast.

Email: floridahotshot@aol.com