CAPPELLINI CAPTURES POLE IN ROUGH WATER IN CAGLIARI!
CANTANDO AND PHARAON IN THE TOP 3

CAGLIARI, Italy: (5th of July) ­  Italian Guido Cappellini took his 49th career pole position and will lead the field of 23 drivers from 14 different countries on the beautiful island of Sardinia for the 6th Annual Grand Prix of the Mediterranean.

Cappellini took his third straight pole position with a steller time of 52.18 seconds around the 8 pin 2.3. kilometre course in the inner harbour in the capital city of Sardinia. Cappellini was 7 /10,s of a second quicker of fellow Italian Francesco Cantando of Milan as the Singha Beer Team driver did a 52.95 for a speed of 169.97 kph. Both Cantando and Cappellini are tied at the top of the standings with 35 points each with a win and a second place finish after the first two rounds of the UIM F1 World Championship season for 2003.

Saudi Arabian driver Laith Pharaon will start 3rd with a 53.61 second lap and 167.87 kph speed reaching the top 3 in qualifying for the first time this season. The one time Offshore Champion realized that improving his time in the late afternoon shootout was virtually impossible with rough water conditions and times nearly 10 seconds a lap slower in the later afternoon final qualifying session.

Italian Massimo Roggierio was 4th for his 2nd time in the top-6 this season with a 54.21 while Portugese driver Duarte Benavente was 5th with a 54.32 lap for his 3rd straight top 5 qualifying effort in his English Burgess built boat.

Finnish star Sami Selio was 6th in the only Johnson V-6 3 litre engine with a speed of 165.16 kph speed and a time of 54.54. American Scott Gillman was 7th for the second straight year and will be looking to make the podium for the 6th straight year.

Italian Guido Cappellini will be looking for his 4th win in the years 6th race starting at 17:00 local CET and 11:00 Eastern Time Zone in the Eastern United States.