GILLMAN HOPING “SARDINIA STREAK” STAYS IN PLACE!
CANTANDO & PHARAON EXPECT TO PUSH CAPPELLINI!

LAUSANNE, Switzerland: (25th of June) – In the world of sports there are two types of streaks - winning and losing. For American driver Scott Gillman he’s working on both, when it comes to the upcoming 6th Annual Grand Prix of the Mediterranean on the 6th of July on the beautiful Italian island of Sardinia.

The good news is that the native from Los Angeles, California and 2-time World Champion is the only driver on the tour that has finished on the podium in everyone of the five previous races held in the inner harbour of the picturesque city of Cagliari. Since the race’s original event in 1998 the lead driver of the Emirates Team has a win, a 2nd place and 3 3rd place finishes. His win in 2000 is a measuring point for his frustration the last 2 season’s since it also is his last win on the tour as the 44 year-old has gone 28 straight events without a win. During this time Scott has 13 podiums and 13 DNF’s in that period. A win in Cagliari would put him right back in the championship picture as he comes of a 3rd at the Grand Prix of Finland and sits with 12 points and 5th place in the championship.

If, however he has plans on winning, Gillman will have to first stop his main competition beginning with 7-time World champion and current winning driver of the event Guido Cappellini of the Zepter Team who has 3 wins and 2 DNF’s in his 5 starts. Last year the native of Como won from the pole on his way to the title. Cappellini, who is currently tied at the top of the championship of this season’s standings with 35 points and a win at the opening round at the Grand Prix of Portugal, will be pushed hard by fellow Italian Francesco Cantando of the Singha Beer Team who is coming off a win in Helsinki. Cantando, took Cappellini to his fullest early in last season’s event before stearing failure caused him to crash out, is feeling a lot better now that his new boat is running strongly after just two races since coming out of the mold in his race headquarters in Milan.

Cantando, who has twice finished runner-up in the championship in two of the last 3 years knows this is an important event for him to establish himself as a front runner in the championship. Another driver who has a history of doing well here is Saudi Arabian pilot Laith Pharaon of the Team Green effort, who came 2nd a year ago and almost did the same in 2000. The driver who was 2nd in the title run a year ago is coming off a DNF in Finland and is looking for his first podium finish of the year. Pharaon feels that he now has enough experience in this sport as he enters his 3rd full season and feels he can make a run for the title. In order for him to do this, he needs to finish on the podium this race weekend.

Italian Fabio Comparato 3rd in the championship this season with 16 points on the strength of a 3rd in Portugal, is looking for his first podium in Sardinia with his best effort being a pair of 6th place finishes in 1999 and 2000. Last year he started 2nd but DNF’d before the end of the race.

Portugese driver Duarte Benavente is tied with Comparato for 3rd having two top 5 finishes so far in 2003. The native of Lisbon has had a history of doing well here with two straight top 5’s and a good qualifying effort her a season ago starting 4th.

Philippe Dessertenne of the Ligier Sports Team has had both a frustrating and fulfilling experiences here in the inner harbour of Cagliari. He had a fine 2001 event when he started 4th and finished on the podium in 3rd. Last year, he qualified 9th however a flat battery kept him from leaving the start pontoon as he became an instant spectator for the rest of the day.

Italian Fabrizio Bocca of the Corona Beer sponsored Rainbow Racing effort has finished all 5 previous events with 3 straight 5th place’s from 1998 to 2000 and 2001 and 2002 he has finished 7th. The driver from Casalle has proved to be a hard charger in this event and would love to be a top 3 finisher this time around.

With everyone in the field running the very successful 2.5 litre Mercury engine on the back of their hulls, except for one driver, Sami Selio of Helsinki, Finland who is hoping his 3.0 litre Johnson powerplant will prove to be the trump card to winning. So far in 2003, as was the case in 2002, reliability is a problem as the Veldon Racing effort continues to work at wharp speed to solve the little problems that have plagued their otherwise successful short term efforts.

Another Finnish driver Michael Weckstrom is proving to be a top 10 driver early in the season. He proved his meddle with a good qualifying effort at his home Grand Prix only to have the boat banged up in the 2nd qualifying session after qualifying 6th and failing to start in Helsinki. He is also looking for a top 10 finish in his first full season in F1.

Andy Elliott of Great Britian has gotten back in the groove with his KRB boat from New Zealand with two top 10 finishes this season. The English native has 3 top placements in this event and was 11th last season after qualifying a disappointing 19th. Another driver Danish pilot Gert Ladefoged struggled with a bout of sickness in Helsinki and wasn’t much of a factor but should be back to full strength and is hoping to run as strongly as he did with 6th place finish in Portugal.   

The 3rd round of the U.I.M. F1 World Championship for powerboating has become a tradition on the tour both for its lovely setting and challenging race course that goes along with it for the drivers which encompuses both the inner harbour tied in with the backside that touches the open ocean. It will once again be one of the most challenging race days of the season helping to determine the racers from the pretenders at days end. 

The 6th Annual Grand Prix of the Mediterranean is scheduled to start 23 drivers from 13 different nations at 17:00 local time on Sunday, 6th of July.