CAPPELLINI CRUISES AT HOME GRAND PRIX !
GILLMAN CRASHES OUT OF LEAD ; SELIO & ELLIOTT !

COMO, Italy – 10th of July, 2005 – In a wild and crazy afternoon with many surprises, one thing is for sure, Italian native Gudio Cappellini sure enjoys racing at his home Grand Prix in Italy on his own backyard as the native of Como won for his 48 time in his career at the 2nd Round of the U.I.M. F1 World Championship for powerboating.

Cappellini took off from the pole but immediately American Scott Gillman of the Emirates Team took control as he passed Cappellini in turn number one and led by as much as 11 seconds setting the fast lap of a 59.75 second effort winning the « Bluefish Fast Lap » Award for the 2nd straight race.

The face of the event changed dramatically on the 17th tour when the native of Los Angeles, California came out of the far north tour and hit a rouge wave from traffic farther up on the lake, fell in a hole and barrell rolled the boat in a big way, ending his afternoon and giving the race back to Cappellini.

« We did our best and picked the right propeller and had the field covered, » stated the Dubai Holding sponsored driver. We hit a large wave and I almost saved it, but at such a high speed i twas impossible and the next thing I knew I was getting soaked and upside down. »

Cappellini, now in the lead had a perfect restart and controlled the rest of the way winning by over 15 seconds on the remaining field of drivers.

While Cappellini was cruising, a wild battle for 2nd was getting closer and closer each lap. Sami Selio, who started 4th battled Frenchman Philippe Dessertenne for 2nd for many laps until the Ligier Sports sponsored driver ran into problems with his boat in the last 10 laps slowing and coming to an end on the 35th lap.

Englishman Andy Elliott had the ride of his life coming from 13th position to finish on the podium in 3rd for the first time since his win in the Netherlands back in 1991 ! Italian Francesco Cantando who started 21st came all the way to 4th at the end on a great run in his Singha Beer sponsored boat with Saudi driver Laith Pharaon coming home farther  back in 5th.

Fabio Comparato was 6th in a close race that seperated 2nd from 6th at the end by no more than 8 seconds. Australian David Trask had a nice run coming from 11th to 7th at the end in the Seaquest Racing effort.

Durate Benavente of Portugal came home 8th on a steady drive picking up his 2nd straight points event while Thani Al Qamzi took the Emirates Team boat to a 9th while Italian Fabrizio Bocca moved up to take a well earned 10th at the end of the day.

The race ended three laps early when Australian Bob Trask took out the large bouy in the inner harbor forcing the race stopped on the 42nd of 45 scheduled laps.

The 2005 U.I.M. F1 race season now heads east and leaves its European schedule with Cappellini now two for two on the season and Scott Gillman scratching his head trying to figure out how to catch him. There is still a long way to go but Cappellini has the upper hand thus far on the season. Stay tuned.

For additional information, interviews or video footage please contact:

Philippe Stiernon
Press Officer
Philippe@f1boat.com