Dubai: Defending five-time world champions Spirit of Norway won the Mina Seyahi Grand Prix, but it was Victory 77 hogging the limelight as they cemented their right as the new world champions on Saturday.
Shaikh Mayed Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum attended the race and then gave away the prizes to the top three finishers.
In a dramatic race, the Spirit of Norway duo of Bjorn Rune Gjelsten and Steve Curtis initially surrendered the lead, but took control of the race on the tenth lap and never looked back from then on.
"It's always special to win in Dubai," Gjelsten told Gulf News.
"We will lend our title to Victory for one year and then take it back after a season," chipped in throttleman Curtis.
Jump start
"This was my dream and today I am so happy to be crowned the new world champion," Victory 77 rookie driver Aref Saif Al Zafein said.
The Victory 77 duo of Al Zafein and Jean Marc Sanchez had to finish in the points ahead of closest pursuers Qatar 96.
Midway through the race, Qatar 96 blew their engine allowing Victory 77 to come with the more conservative approach of finishing with some points and distance themselves from the remaining boats.
Starting from sixth place, Victory 77 powered into the lead ahead of Negotiator and Spirit of Norway much to the surprise of the home crowd. But the jury decreed that the two Victory boats had jump-started, thus making it mandatory for them to take an additional long lap.
"I do not agree that we had a jump start because if we had then so did the rest of the boats who were by our side. We have plans to appeal after watching the videos," Al Zafein stated.
Tough race
As the race progressed, Victory 77 had to surrender their lead to Spirit of Norway by the tenth lap while Qatar 95 too gained on them and eventually overtook them to be placed second.
Negotiator, with Chris Parsonage and Bard Eker took the third for the second time this season.
"This was a tough race, but we were handicapped because we did not get a very good start. We took some risks, but we are unhappy with some of the boats drifting from the far left all the way to the right at the start," said Qatar 95 driver Abdullah Al Sulaiti.
"It was a great race and we would have been happier gunning for second. But we will take this one and hope we can get a few more points next week so that we end up on the podium for the Middle East Championship," said Chris Parsonage, throttleman for Negotiator.
Results
Mina Seyahi Grand Prix - Round Seven of the 2007 WPPA Class One World Powerboat Championship: 1. Spirit of Norway (Bjorn Rune Gjelsten/Steve Curtis); 2. Qatar 95 (Abdullah Al Sulaiti/Luca Nicolini); 3. Negotiator (Chris Parsonage/Bard Eker); 4. Victory 77 (Aref Saif Al Zafein/Jean Marc Sanchez); 5. Victory 7 (Nader Bin Hendi/Talib Al Sayed); 6. Spirit of Norway 20 (Tom Barry-Cotter/Pal Virik Nilsen); 7. Foresti & Suardi (Giampaolo Montavoci/Marco Pennesi); 8. Fainplast (Kolbjorn O. Selmer/Giovanni Carpitella); 9. Qatar 96 (Shaikh Hassan Bin Jaber Al Thani/Matteo Nicolini); 10. SeveneleveN (Nicolo Giorgi/Tomaso Polli). Did Not Finish: Jorn Tandberg/Christian Zaborowski.
