Venturelli expecting surprising outcomes

Oslo, Norway: In the uncertain world of Class One powerboat racing, Victory Team boss Gian Franco Venturelli is expecting a few surprises at the Scandinavian Grand Prix here this weekend.

"Do not underestimate the boats with the V8 engines. They have the speed and I expect one of these to find the reliability soon," Venturelli told Gulf News.

Class One teams have the option of racing either with the V12 (8.2 litre) or Mercury V8 (9.1 litre) engines.

And Venturelli knows from experience that an upset of the favourite boats carrying V12s is very much a possibility, more so after two races gone into the 2007 season.

Negotiator from the Chris Parsonage Racing Team and Jotun from the Ugland Offshore Racing Team, Qatar 96 and the second Spirit of Norway team are the four boats with V8 engines.

Jotun and Negotiator, in particular, have been threatening during both the races.

However, they have not managed to see their threat through for wins ahead of the customary favourites.

In the last race in Arendal, for instance, Negotiator had the fastest average speed of 199.32kph, while Jotun was second fastest with 196.78kph.

Spirit of Norway 20 with young guns Tom Barry-Cotter and Pal Virik Nilsen at the helm, finished ahead of teammates and six-time defending world champions Spirit of Norway 10 to make their debut on the standings.

Abdullah Al Sulaiti and Luca Nicolini in Qatar 95 too have been persistent after their fourth place finish in Athens. But once again they failed to finish in Arendal.

The boats with V8 engines have lacked reliability in the engines - the one main element that is so very crucial for success in Class One racing. And Venturelli expects this to change shortly.

"I predict they will get it right some time. I think it is just a question of time when one of these gets the entire package right. They have shown they have the speed on the boats...it is now just a question of reliability," noted Venturelli.

Basically, I see six to seven boats as the serious contenders to the world title this year, and the ones with the V8 engines are going to be there at the top, should they get the reliability factor sorted out," the Italian shrugged.

Venturelli's two boats - Victory 77 and Victory 7 have both opted for the custom-made V12 engines.

And both have had a dream start to the season so far with finishes on the podium in both Athens and Arendal.

"It has been a blessing to have such strong finishes in both the races. Now we need to ensure that we arrive at the finish line for all the remaining races," Venturelli offered.

"We have to arrive at the finish and that too we have to have a good position. Only then can we aspire to add the world title to our name," he added.