GILLMAN CAPTURES POLE FOR G.P. OF AUSTRIA!
CAPPELLINI 2ND AND ROOKIE COMPARATO 3RD!

Vienna, Austria (4th September) - American Scott Gillman of Basalt, Colorado and lead pilot of the Emirates Race Team, showed the thousands of race fans here on the Danube River at the 8th Round of the 1999 U.I.M. F1 World Championship for powerboating, that he has taken control of the 2nd half of the season, by capturing the pole position for tomorrow’s 1st Annual Grand Prix of Austria.

Gillman, who started the current campaign chasing the 4-time World Champion Guido Cappellini of the Principality of Monaco, who had taken a strangle hold of the campaign with 4 straight wins, has now solved his engine problems and has gained new confidence with back to back wins in Moscow and Istanbul. This new success helped propel him further with his first pole of the season and his first since the Grand Prix of Hungary in August of 1998.

Gillman came into the final session, which features the top 6 in a "shootout" for pole position, 2nd behind Cappellini until he did a 45.19 second lap around the 2- kilometer 7-pin course for a speed of 159.32 kph. Cappellini, looking to go quicker, could only muster a 45.59 second try and settled for 2nd place from the dock missing the pole while looking for his 5th of the season by 4/100th’s of a second and a speed of 157.92 kph. Cappellini leads the World championship and looks to lock up the championship this weekend with 110 points to Gillman’s 67 with just 2 races to go.

Cappellini’s teammate, rookie sensation Fabio Comparato of Italy on the DAC Racing Team was 3rd quickest with a 45.75 second effort for a time of 157.37 kph. Comparato, always a quick starter, will try to jump out to the early lead in tomorrow’s event.

Another 4-time World Champion and current reigning title holder Jonathan Jones of Cardigan, Wales will start 4th with a 45.87 and a 156.96 kph time in the first "non carbon" hull running the English Burgess boat looking for his 2nd pole of the season.

Italian Massimo Roggiero did another wonderful effort moving to 5th on tomorrow’s start dock with a 46.4 second lap with a time of 155.17 kph in the RIPS/Castrol DAC.

Last year’s "rookie-of-the-year" Sami Selio of Helsinki, Finland reached his 2nd ever shootout taking 6th with a time of 46.68 and 154.24 kph. The KODAK/NLS/Castrol pilot who finished 3rd in the last event in Istanbul is building his confidence for a ever improving finish to a promising season.

Argentinian pilot Carlos Maidana just missed the shootout for the pole with his best qualifying effort of the season starting 7th tomorrow with a 147.60 kph in his TG Group/Havoline Seebold hull. Finland’s Pertti Leppala continues to come to grips with his mid-season slump qualifying 8th with a 147.29 kph in his KODAK/NLS/Castrol DAC.

Young Italian Francesco Cantando was 9th with a 146.28 kph effort in the Singha Beer DAC, while France’s Philippe Dessertenne rounds out the top 10 with a 144.28 kph time in his Fuchs/Sika/Primagaz DAC.

The field of 23 Mercury powered V-6 machines will take off from the start dock at 14:00 CET (08:00 CDT) for the 8th Round of the U.I.M. F1 World Championship for powerboating and the 1st Annual Grand Prix of Austria