SELIO CAPTURES FIRST POLE AT GP OF PORTUGAL!
ROGGIERO & BENAVENTE KEEP DAC BOATS OUT OF TOP 3!

PORTIMAO, Portugal – 27th of May, 2006 – One of the wildest most unpredictable days in the history of qualifying for pole position happened today at the 8th Annual Grand Prix of Portugal on the Arade River in Portimao for the 2nd Round of the U.I.M. F1 World Championship for power boating.

Increasing wind caused the final hour in the battle for the number one position to be a real challenge for the final six drivers who had made the “Top-6 Shootout” as 27 drivers from 13 different countries came to challenge the rough waters of the Arade River here on the Southern coast of Portugal.

The two men who had wide smiles when the day was over were led by Finnish driver Sami Selio who scored his first pole in 58 tries with a time of 45.72 second lap on the increasingly rougher and more challenging river.

Selio who has qualified as far up as 2nd in the past used all his skills in his BABA boat to deliver the goods and will lead the field for tomorrows 15:00 local time start for the 8th annual event.

Italian Massimo Roggiero will start second in a BABA boat he designed himself in his first ever ride with the newly reformed F1 Qatar Team with a time of a 46.99. His performance marked the 50th time he reached the top 6 in qualifying for the “shootout”.

Third off the dock and also his best effort ever will be local hero Duarte Benavente who came back strongly after breaking his number one engine early in the morning and battled back for a 3rd place start in his DRAGON designed boat from Wales.

The top three drivers finishing in order marked the first time in years that a Guido Cappellini built DAC had not reached the podium position in qualifying.

Speaking of the defending race and World Champion, Cappellini, he did him self in with a spectacular blow over on his 2nd of two laps trying to take pole position. His first lap ended when he almost blew over on the far south end of the course. On his 2nd he lost control after launching off a large wave and was lucky to save it and not hurting himself or the boat when he landed. The native from Como who has six wins in Portugal will start 4th off the grid.

Fifth and Six will be the hard luck team of the Emirates who looked strong early with both Scott Gillman and Thani Al Qamzi 1st and 2nd in the first qualifying session. But the day turned badly for Gillman who had his boat break at the back end and sat our the rest of the day and will start 6th for the 2004 winner, while Al Qamzi struggled with an bad engine in qualifying and never got the speed he wanted and will take 5th on the grid.

The remainder of the top t0 sees Singha’s Francesco Cantando in 7th, Laith Pharaon of Team Green  8th, points leader Ivan Brigada 9th and Australian David Trask 10th.

With 27 drivers trying to squeeze into 24 positions on the starting grid three drivers failed to qualifying including Italian Leo Bonelli of Team Green; veteran Italian Franco Leidi of the ASMC Team and Chinese driver Peng Lin Wu coming back for the first time in F1 in seven years.

Tomorrow’s race will take place under expected warm conditions and winds shifting to the NW which should make conditions less challenging for the drivers. The 8th Annual Grand Prix of Portugal will take place at 15:00 local and GMT and 10:00 Eastern Daylight Time in North America.

For additional information, interviews or video footage please contact:

Philippe Stiernon
Press Officer
Philippe@f1boat.com