CAPPELLINI & GILLMAN READY FOR DUAL IN DOHA!
NEW 6 TURN COURSE IN DOHA BAY WILL BE A CHALLENGE!

DOHA, Qatar – 17th November, 2005 – After eight weeks off the water the U.I.M. F1 World Championship for power boating gets back into action on early Friday morning with it's first practice session and with it will come a heated battle on the water after almost two months off, as two world champions are ready to tackle the rough course in Doha Bay for the first annual Grand Prix of Qatar.

Italian Guido Cappellini currently leads in the championship and is looking for his 9th world title with two wins in his first 3 starts this season. This is news in itself, but adding to the fact that he and his arch nemesis American Scott Gillman of the Emirates Team was taken out of the last event at the Grand Prix of Singapore when he and Guido were fighting for first place on the 10th lap of a scheduled 50+ lap event on Marina Bay.

The officials of the U.I.M., the world governing body for power boat racing from Monaco overturned a ruling by the race officials in Singapore that had given Cappellini a red card for dangerous driving in the incident. He was allowed to return after the U.I.M. felt he didn't have a chance to respond to the charges since he was in the hospital. Now, its become personal between he and Scott Gillman and it will be interesting how they both approach this Saturday's Grand Prix of Doha.

The race course has been moved over to the Al Bandar section of Doha Bay on a breakwater and with that a new course has been set up by the race organizers that will be 6 turns and just over 2.1 kilometers long with two 650 meter straights. The course could be very tricky and maybe the roughest they have raced on this season with a strong wind coming out of the northeast and the open ocean of the Persian Gulf every afternoon so far this week.

"We are ready to get back on the winning track", stated the defending world champion Scott Gillman. "We've lead every race this season and I can't remember when we've been so fast and had so much bad luck."

Friday will feature a practice session in the morning followed by two timed sessions to help determine the top six qualifiers. From there they will each get an opportunity in the final session of the day to run two solo laps to try to capture pole position. Cappellini has taken all three thus far with Gillman taking 2nd in each event. In race conditions Gillman has passed Cappellini so far, will this trend continue? We will find out shortly. But one thing is certain, there is tension in the air here this weekend and this could be a very special show from start to finish.

For additional information, interviews or video footage please contact:

Philippe Stiernon
Press Officer
Philippe@f1boat.com