CAPPELLINI CAPTURES POLE IN PORTUGAL!
WORLD CHAMPION JONES 4TH ; LEPPALA 2ND!

Portimao, Portugal May 1st: 4-time World Champion Guido Cappellini of Como, Italy, racing for the Principality of Monaco, accomplished in the opening round of the 1999 U.I.M. F1 World Championship, what took him 5 attempts in last season’s series, to win pole position. The lead pilot of the DAC Racing team, made it look easy as he set a blistering pace of 47:94 seconds around the 2500 meter course, capturing the top spot by .29 seconds over Finland’s Pertti Leppala.

Cappellini, who captured 5 pole postions during the 1998 campaign, had hit a dry spell in the last half of the season with only one in his last four attempts. But Cappellini, determined to be again atop the timing sheets, was outpaced his the first two sessions of the day by his new teammate Italian Fabio Camparato. In the final qualifying battle for the pole, the special six boat "Shootout" session, Cappellini showed the competition that he had done his homework over the winter and set himself up for leading the field at the start of tomorrow’s Grand Prix of Portugal in Portimao

Finland’s Pertti Leppala. The native of Helsinki, who is the lead driver of the Team Europe effort, did a time of 48.23, while 1997 World Champion Scott Gillman of Basalt, Colorado was 3rd with a time of 48.50 for 3rd position. and is in front of Welsh driver Jonathan Jones who did a 50.03 and will start 4th.

Italian Massimo Roggiero was 5th with a 50.31, while 6th position went to Cappellini’s teammate Fabio Comparato who failed to improve from his previous time of a 50.53. Young Italian Francesco Cantando was 7th quickest just missing the shootout with a time of 52.72. Argentina’s Carlos Maidana, reached the top 8 despite almost sinking his boat in the 2nd session when a piston on the right sponson came loose and water quickly filled his American built Seebold hull. Fortunately for Maidana, his crew was able to get the boat out of the water before it sank and he finished in the top 10. Swedish driver Goran Karloff qualified 9th with a time of 53.01 while , Italian Fabrizio Bocca will start 10th with a 53.55.

Tomorrow’s opening round of the UIM F1 World Championship will begin at 16:15 Central Europe Daylight time (10:15 Eastern Daylight Time) as the 22 drivers race for 45 minutes around the busy 8 turn 2.5 kilometer course.