CAPPELLINI RUNS UP 44TH CAREER POLE IN HUNGARY!
GILLMAN DEBUTS NEW BOAT TO 2ND, DESSERTENNE 3RD!

BUDAPEST, Hungary: (22th June 2002) – Italian points leader Guido Cappellini took his 2nd pole of the season and his 44th career pole position and will lead the field of 19 drivers from 10 different nations at the 13th Annual Grand Prix of Hungary.

This 4th stop of the U.I.M. F1 World Championship tour for powerboating has returned to the ancient capital of Budapest for the first time since 1990 and in front of thousands of race fans watching along the Danube River on a sunshine filled afternoon that reached temperatures into the low 30's, the native of Como, Italy took the pole by .41 of a second with a time of 164.15 kph around the 7 pin circuit.

Just behind the 6-time World Champion was the American Scott Gillman in a brand new hull built in Abu Dhabi, UAE and dubbed by name the Abu Dhabi boat. Considering just 30 minutes had been the total time the hull had been in the water testing before shipping to Europe, it was a remarkable performance for the team engineer Butti Al Qubaisi and the driver Gillman. The 2-time World Champion led with quick times in all three sessions ending with a top-6 shootout time of a 41.42 for a speed of 162.53 kph.

A great qualifying effort for Frenchman Philippe Dessertenne comes off his first win a week ago in Helsinki and the Grand Prix of Finland. It will be his best ever starting position in the third spot after qualifying with a time of 159.79 kph. Dessertenne is 2nd in the championship with 26 points, 14 behind Cappellini's 40.

In the 4th spot is Italian Fabio Comparato who leads the championship with the best qualifying efforts after the first 4 rounds. His 4th was an end to a dissapointing day with a 42.24 and a speed of 159.37 kph. Engine problems slowed his progress all day and keeps him in the top 5 for his 4th straight time.

Another Italian Francesco Cantando also had the same problems as Comparato, with not only engine maladies, but boat problems on the tail end of his DAC hull. Comparato has led 2 of the 3 first races of the season but has just 6 points with a 7th and 9th place finish in the last two events.

His teammate Ivan Torta enjoyed his best qualifying day in his 3 year career with a first trip to the top-6 with a 42.67 second lap and a speed of 157.76 kph. Torta, who was up to 3rd during the Grand Prix of Finland before finishing 7th, is on a hot streak and looks forward to running again in the top 3 tomorrow.

Portugese driver Duarte Benavente missed the "shootout" by 1/100th of a second with a speed of 153.94 kph in his English Burgess built boat. Finland driver Jari Honkala spent most of the day working on engine problems before sneaking into 8th spot with a speed of 153.20 kph.

Saudi driver Laith Pharaon pushed up to the 9th spot late dissapointed he didn't do better after a 2nd place finish in Helsinki last weekend. Massimo Roggiero, 3rd and on the podium last weekend in Helsinki will be once again to asked to charge to the front starting 10th with a time of 44.05 and a speed of 152.82 kph.

Local driver Rudy Mihalinecz qualified 11th in a Cappellini prepared boat, while Sami Selio struggled in the only non Mercury 2.5 litre engined boat with his 3.0 litre Johnson powered DAC in the 14th position.

The Grand Prix of Hungary is expected to run under plenty of sunshine with thousands on hand for the 16:00 CET, 14:00 GMT and 10:00 Eastern Daylight Time in North America start on the Danube River as the 4th round of the U.I.M. F1 World Championship for power boating.