Dubai: Five-time World Class One champions Spirit of Norway snatched their sixth successive Pole Position as teams braced for the seventh round of the 2007 WPPA World Class One Powerboat Championship at the Dubai International Marine Club (DIMC) yesterday.
The Spirit of Norway duo of Bjorn Gjelsten and Steve Curtis guided their boat home to the best time lap of three minutes, 05.06 seconds during the only time they went out to sea yesterday afternoon.
Better time
In close second was the Jotun combination of Jorn Tandberg and Christian Zaborowski with a time of 3:06.68 while Abdullah Al Sulaiti and Luca Nicolini in Qatar 95 upstaged their peers Qatar 96 for the second time in as many days with a time of 3:07.70. "We are very close to Spirit of Norway. It is only a question of reliability now. I think we are back in business," stated Jotun throttleman Tandberg.
Qatar 95 driver Al Sulaiti was pleased with their performance too. "Had we gone out a bit earlier we could have set a much better time and won the Pole Position," he predicted. "Hope the sea conditions are a bit calmer tomorrow, then we can be a serious challenger to winning this race," Al Sulaiti predicted.
Going into this race, Spirit of Norway had already sealed the title in the Pole Position Championship. They have won all the Pole Positions this year, except in the opening round in Athens where a Pole Position run was not held.
