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Dubai team can be caught despite points lead, says boating legend
Eight-time World Champion Steve Curtis believes it is only a matter of time before Team Qatar stages a spirited fight-back in the Class 1 World Powerboat Championship.
- Staff Report
- Published: 23:40 July 4, 2008
Moscow: Eight-time World Champion Steve Curtis believes it is only a matter of time before Team Qatar stages a spirited fight-back in the Class 1 World Powerboat Championship.
Curtis, arguably one of the greatest ever powerboat racer, was speaking ahead of the third round of the eight-race series in Moscow, which sees his team trail the Dubai Victory Team by 24 points.
And after two races dominated by the Victory Team, the 44-year-old Englishman insists the season is far from over for him.
"We haven't exactly had the best of starts," he said ahead of the first Class 1 grand prix to be held in the Russian capital.
Mechanical issues
"We crashed our boat in Qatar and have been racing with the spare ever since. We then had a lot of mechanical issues in Montenegro, which shoved us to the back of the field and cost us big points.
"But we've been putting a lot of work in to getting the best from what we have available as we're not as fast as the Victory boats and I know we'll be back to our best for the forthcoming races."
Tellingly, Curtis didn't make any predictions for the Russian Grand Prix, which is a tight 24-lap race that will take the Class 1 fleet across the inky waters of the Russian capital's Khimki Reservoir.
Yet if pre-race testing is anything to go by, Team Qatar may well be back in business sooner rather than later.
The layout of the racecourse is undoubtedly a major challenge with tight turns just yards from the reservoir banks.
Quickest lap
But it appeared to be no problem for the Team boat recording the fastest lap time in testing of 2mins 25.12 secs.
The second quickest over the lap was championship leaders Nader Bin Hindi and Mohammad Al Merri in Victory 1.
The Norwegian pairing of Jorn Tandberg and Inge Aarbakle third quickest with Jotun 90.
"It's always good to get a feel of the course, especially one as challenging as this," said Bin Hindi after clocking a best time of 2mins 28.4secs.
"We've had a great start to the season but there is no real secret to our success. If you do your homework and work hard then you will get the results.
"We've done that over the past few months and the results are the reward."
The action begins in earnest today with the third round of the Edox Pole Position Championship.
Joint leaders after two rounds are Victory 1 and Qatar 96 on 35 points with Qatar 95 and Jotun 90 tied for third on 21 points.
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