ROOKIE IVAN BRIGADA WINS MATCH RACE IN ABU DHABI!
THREE DIFFERENT BOAT HULLS MAKE THE PODIUM!

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates – 10th of December, 2005 – Italian driver Ivan Brigada held off veteran Andy Elliott by one boat length to take his first ever match race championship at the inaugural “Dubai Holdings Golden Match Race” at the inner harbour of in downtown Abu Dhabi.

Ten drivers representing 7 countries on four different continents battled for over 2 and one-half hours running 24 heats to determine who was quickest on the water as they raced side by side for pure speed in a drag racing format.

Early drama saw American first timer Chris Fairchild lose the running pad on his right sponson and he in turn corkscrewed to a wild spin at the top end of the course in Hilton corner. His day was done and he was the first driver out of the event while his opponent Max Moreschi of Italy lasted until the 16th heat after losing twice to fellow Italian Massimo Roggiero.

Frenchman Philippe Chiappe in the next heat against eventual runner-up Andy Elliott got lost on the course and was disqualified. This was disappointing to the driver who finished 2nd in Singapore earlier this season.

Australian Bob Trask struggled with a engine problems and couldn’t get up to speed and was gone from the competition early, while brother David was to last longer getting as far as the 18th heat before he was narrowly defeated by the Englishman Elliott and missing the semi-finals for the first time this year.

Qatar driver Mohammed Al Ali was also stuck running against a strong Elliott in his Welsh built Dragon boat and with back to back losses was gone by the 10th heat in his first attempt at match racing and a giant learning curve in the process.

  In the semi-finals it was Finland’s Sami Selio going against Italian Brigada and their two race match-up saw Selio win by 3/10’s of a second with Brigada returning the favor winning in heat 2 by 3/10’s of a second and taking a trip to the final with a faster aggregate time.

In the other semi-final Massimo Roggiero won the first heat against Elliott by 2/10’s of a second only to have Elliott take the second and move into the finals with a 4/10’s of a second victory.

Roggiero lost a chance to reach the podium when his engine was unable to continue and he was forced to settle for 4th place at the end of the day giving the Helsinki native Sami Selio 3rd place.

So, in the finals with two heats and in the first Brigada put on the pressure by winning by almost ½ second with a 52.73 second time to Elliott’s 53.20. With one race to run Elliott needed to put together his best run of the day to have a shot and he pushed hard finishing just one boat length back but would do no better than 2nd as Brigada came away with the win with a 52.97 second to 53.04 mark by Elliott capturing his first ever event in his first ever match race competition.

Brigada also took the fast run of the day with a lap of 52.03 in the first heat of the afternoon for a clean sweep of the awards given for the match racing event.

The Golden Match Racing season comes to an end with French driver Philippe Dessertenne taking the Singapore race in a 1-2 Ligier Sports sweep.

The U.I.M. F1 World Championship now moves on the Grand Prix of Sharjah two hundred kilometres northeast for the 6th and final round of the 2005 campaign on Friday the 16th of December in downtown Sharjah.

The F1 family want to wish their director of logistics Lavinia Cavallero a speedy recovery as she sits in hospital for a few more days following surgery after which she broke in multiple places her ankle on Wednesday afternoon. We expect to see her in Sharjah next week. 

For additional information, interviews or video footage please contact:

Steve Michael Reporting - Philippe Stiernon F1 Press Officer

Photos: http://www.f1boatphotos.com