Naples, Italy: The dream finish scenario that Naples resident Alfredo Amato had described the day before was not to be at the Napoli Grand Prix — the third round of the UIM Skydive Dubai XCat World Series on Sunday.

After starting in pole position, Amato and Marco Pennesi missed a buoy and were handed a penalty long lap from which they struggled to recover, eventually finishing down in eighth place.

But the massive local crowd was nevertheless given plenty to celebrate as two other Italian teams, Marine Investimenti Sud (Serafino Barlesi and Alessandro Barone) and T-Bone Station (Luca Fendi and Giovanni Carpitella), made it on to the podium in second and third respectively as Fazza capped yet another fine race to notch their third win on the trot in as many races this season.

The Fazza duo of Arif Al Zafein and Nader Bin Hindi, who started the race in second spot, took the lead on the first lap, and despite fairly serious steering problems from the fourth, they held on to extend their lead at the top of the overall standings.

“I think something happened in the oil system, but we tried to continue together and Nader really helped me with the steering because the boat was going left and right,” said Al Zafein. “We just tried to do our best to make it to the finish which we did and stayed in front so I am very happy.”

Barlesi, meanwhile, was thrilled with his podium finish. “The set-up was perfect today,” he said. “We have a new boat with short propellers and this meant we were very fast.

“We are very happy because we are a new combination in the boat and we’re getting along very well. We are extremely proud to be on the podium in Italy. Allesandro is from Messina and I am from Rome and here in between the two cities, we are on the podium.”

The trophies were presented by Argentinean football legend Diego Maradona, who earlier in the day got his first taste of driving an XCat powerboat.

Maradona, who is hailed as a hero in Naples after guiding the city’s football team to glory in the 1980s, took the wheel of Six with Italian powerboating stalwart, Matteo Nicolini as his throttleman.

“I won,” Maradona quipped as he returned to the pontoon after reaching a speed of 90 miles an hour out on the water. “It’s great to be part of the XCat World Series again, especially here in Naples — a city I love so much.”

Action will now move to the lakeside town of Stresa in northern Italy for the fourth round, which takes place from June 20-22.