Bjorn Gjelsten and Steve Curtis in Spirit of Norway clinched their third UIM Class 1 World Powerboat Championship in a row with a comprehensive victory in yesterday's Dubai Grand Prix.

Sponsored by Emirates airline and Dubai Duty Free, the final and decisive event of the Class 1 season became a pleasure cruise for Gjelsten and Curtis after the last ditch championship challenge of Ali Al Qama and Ali Nasser in Victory 7 was destroyed by a broken throttle cable.

With the final title threat removed after just five of the race's 20 laps, Spirit of Norway went on to win by 18 seconds from Mohammad Al Merri and Jean Marc Sanchez in Victory 77, with Shaikh Hassan Bin Jabor Al Thani and Italian throttleman Matteo Nicolini a distant third in Qatar.

The importance of pole position in Class 1 racing was emphatically shown as Spirit of Norway made a clean break from the start to reach the first turn with a clear lead while the two Victory boats dropped to fourth and fifth places.

Needing a Victory one-two finish on home waters to snatch the world title away from Gjelsten and Curtis, Al Qama and Nasser made a brave fight of it.

Shrugging off their poor start they powered their way past Qatar and the Negotiator pairing of Chris Parsonage Peter McGrath by lap three to move within nine seconds of Spirit.

But two laps later their challenge was over, leaving Gjelsten and Curtis with a luxurious race lead and another place in the history books as the first crew to win the Class 1 World Championship three years in succession.

Celebrating his own sixth world title at the finish, English throttleman Curtis said: "We had a really good start which was very important, but Victory 7 came back well and pushed us hard before they had their problem."

Now a four-times world champion, Gjelsten said: "The boat was set up perfectly and we had a good start. We were out in front and in control and when Victory 7 began applying the pressure we were still confident.

"At one point though we noticed we had an oil pressure problem and if we'd have had to settle for second place we would have."

Still seeking his first world title, Ali Al Qama admitted: "We had a really bad start and two boats, one of them Highlander, got in our way on the first corner so we had to slow down.

"But after we found clear water we were able to move up to second and were catching Spirit when the throttle cable broke."

After a result which gave Victory 77 third place in the World Championship and second in the Middle East series behind Gjelsten and Curtis, pilot Al Merri said: "We're happy to have a place on the podium. We had a great set-up, but not the best start.

"We were getting closer to Spirit of Norway but we made a few mistakes."

Throttleman Sanchez summed up the Victory Team's overall championship disappointment, saying: "When we saw the two Alis stop, our hearts broke. Now we have to look to next year."