SELIO DOMINATES GRAND PRIX OF ABU DHABI!
HEART BREAKING EMIRATES TEAM FAILS TO FINISH!

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates – 7th of December, 2007 – Sami Selio of Finland led every second of the 50 lap Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi to move to within 16 points of Italian front runner Guido Cappellini, who has an even 100 points, with one race to go in the 2007 U.I.M. F1 World Championship for power boat racing in front of thousands along the cornice in downtown Abu Dhabi.

The lead driver of the F1 Team Energy squad nosed ahead of the 9-time World Champion in the opening lap and never looked back, setting the fastest lap and going on to win by 11.79 seconds at the end of the 15th Annual event along the edge of the Arabian Gulf.

“We had everything covered today and we were determined to stay at the front and we did it in a perfect display of great preparation by my team,” said the Helsinki driver. “Now, in a weeks time we need to do it again and hope we get a little luck at the same time to win the title. This is our goal and we want to get it done in the worst way.”

Cappellini, the native from Como, Italy and lead driver of the Tamoil Team pushed hard for the first few laps but got caught up when local driver Thani Al Qamzi passed him early on only to drop out on the 15th lap, losing out of any chance for the title while being the first of all three Emirates boats to drop out of the event before the thousands of disappointed fans who were looking for victory on their home waters.

Jonas Andersson for F1 Team Sweden got stronger as the race went on and finally got to within 1.5 seconds of Cappellini for the final 20 laps before settling for his 2nd podium of the season in 3rd in only his 2nd finish of 2007. His race effort places him now 7th in the championship with 24 points.

Another Swede Pierre Lundin finished 4th just missing his 3rd straight podium and solidified his 4th place in the points race with 47 and a race to go. Pierre was staying close to both Andersson and Cappellini before getting water in his engine with a few laps to go and dropping back 25 seconds while just making it home at the finish.

Francesco Cantando of the Singha F1 Racing Team put together his best effort of the season with a fine 5th for the driver who won back to back here in 2000 and 2001.

Australian David Trask came home 6th in his 2nd best effort of the season and sits 9th in the championship with his brother Bob taking 13th at days end.

Qatar Team driver Jay Price was 7th after starting 12th as the driver from New Orleans, Louisiana finished for the 2nd straight race this time in a boat that he borrowed from his rookie teammate Leo Bonelli who is out for the remainder of the season because of back injury. Jay now has 32 points and is 6th in the championship.

Stanislav Kourtsenovsky came home a well earned 8th after starting 13th for the F1 Team Energy group that had both boats in the money with teammate Selio winning.

Englishman Andy Elliott was a happy driver at days end finishing 9th after qualifying 19th in his first F1 race since the Grand Prix of France back in May while pushing Kourtsenovsky to the bitter end.

Rounding out the top 10 and picking up the final championship point was rookie Ugis Gross of Latvia who showed well after starting 23rd off the dock for the Tamoil Team in his first F1 race since coming over from the F2000 World Cup series.

The 2.2 kilometer 8 turn race circuit continued to be a graveyard for boats as 11 drivers failed to finish in a yellow flag free event.

Disappointing was the non start by much hyped American driver Shaun Torrente who failed to get his program sorted in time for his first race event after qualifying a fine 10th on the grid for the Miami, Florida native.

His teammate Fabrizio Bocca was one of the 11 non finishers including Marit Stromoy, Philippe Dessertenne, Majeed Al Mansoori, Massimo Roggiero, Ahmed Al Hamli, Philippe Tourre, Marco Gambi, Thani Al Qamzi, Fabio Comparato and Franco Leidi.

The season finishes off it’s 8 race schedule next Friday, December 07, 2007 at the Grand Prix of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates for the 8th annual event. Two drivers are left to battle for the World Drivers Championship with Guido Cappellini leading by a 100 to 84 point margin over Sami Selio with 20 points going to the winning driver.

It will be an all out attack by Selio and for Cappellini he needs only to finish 7th to capture the crown. Drama to the bitter end. That’s UIM F1 power boat racing.  

For additional information, interviews or video footage please contact:

Steve Michael Reporting - Philippe Stiernon F1 Press Officer

Photos: http://www.f1boatphotos.com