GILLMAN GRABS 1^st POLE OF THE SEASON
COMPARATO & CONTANDO IN TOP THREE AT PORTIMAO!

PORTIMAO, Portugal 2002-04-27 – American Scott Gillman of the Emirates Race Team held the fast time of the day for most of the afternoon and then needed to put in a "flier" of a lap in the two lap top 6 shootout, running a 46.62 taking his 18^th career pole position and will lead the field of 20 drivers from 12 different countries for tomorrow's 4^th Annual Grand Prix of Portugal.

Gillman, the two-time World Champion from Glenwood Springs, Colorado, was forced to push even faster than his 46.97 second lap in the first timed session around the 8-pin 2 kilometer course on the inner harbor of this beautiful city because Italian Fabio Comparato in his DAC 2.5 mercury had just done a 46.63 and moved ahead to the top of the order by three tenths of a second.

Comparato, who has been a good qualifier in the past, continued his trend and was almost a half second faster than fellow Italian Francesco Cantando of the Singha Beer Team who had done a 47.07 best on his run for the pole. The young Italian from Milano is hoping for a good start to the season as he challenges 6-time World Champion Guido Cappellini for the 2002 title.

Cappellini, who has won all three races here and led every lap in the process, had an electrical problem in his run for the pole and stoppped after doing a dissapointing lap of 53.28 and will now start 4^th off the dock with Zepter teammate Massimo Roggiero who will start 7^th with a 49.65 time he set in the first session. Cappellini and Roggiero were one-two a year ago here in beautiful Portimao.

Returning newcomer Mike Seebold of Marco Island, Florida entered this season back in Europe full time for the first time since the 1988 season. He the previous two campaigns he battled in Europe in 1987 and 1988 he finished 2^nd in the title. The St. Louis, Missouri native running for the Muller Transport Seebold hull powered by a 2.5 litre engine, is still in the learning process of finding his way through this campaign with new drivers and new circuits. He was satisfied with his 5^th fast time of a 47.46 time and hopes to be on the podium for the first time since his last race in Abu Dhabi in December of 1994.

Saudi driver Laith Pharaon, who has done some serious testing in Florida over the winter, finished a satisfying 6^th on the grid with a 47.68 time as he begins only his 2^nd full season in the UIM F1 World Championship. The Team Green driver is hoping to battle for the lead as he did with Cappellini a year ago.

Portugese driver and hometown hero Duarte Benavente will start 8^th with a time of 50.43 and hopes to get another top 5 finish, with his best being a 4^th in 2000. The Atlantic Team driver was ahead of his teammate Jari Honkala of Sweden who hopes to keep his string of top 6 successes in tact while starting back in the 13^th position.

Finnish driver Sami Selio who is running under the VividVeldon Team banner for the new season, was the only driver to improve in the 2^nd timed session and will start 9^th in his DAC/Johnson powered entry with a time of 50.43. He hopes to improve on his career best 9^th place finish at this event.

Rounding out the top 10 will be Italian Ivan Torta in the Singha Beer Racing effort with a 50.53 time in his 2^nd start in Portugal while failing to finish in 12^th place in 2001.

With new boats, new drivers and tight competition, the opening round of the 2002 Season of the UIM F1 World Championship is shaping up to be one of the most eagerly awaited events in many years. Can Cappellini win for a 4^th straight time, or will Gillman take his first checkered flag in Portugal. However, Cantando will be looking for his 4^th win in his last 5 races on the tour and could prove to be a real factor early in the season.

The start of the 21^st season of UIM F1 World Championship racing begins with the start of race number 1, the 4^th Grand Prix of Portugal at 1600 local and 1100 Eastern Daylight Time.