Class 1 Romanian Grand Prix - Fazza fastest to take Edox Pole

9:52 PM Sat 29 Aug 2009 GMT

'Fazza - Romanian Grand Prix' Class 1 World Powerboat Championship &copy

Class 1 World Powerboat Championship Romanian Grand Prix. Today's qualifying in the Edox Pole Position saw Fazza storm to their first pole position win of the season and will start from the front in this afternoon's race.

The win also sees them take the joint lead in the Edox Pole Position Championship. Team-mates and championship leaders, Victory 1, qualified in second place despite some fast sector times, with the top three completed by Welmax.

Arif Al Zafeen and Nadir Bin Hendi, Fazza 3, set their fastest lap, 2mins 42.85secs, on their opening run and none of their rivals could match the pace for the rest of the session. The Dubai based team will be confident of winning Race 1 of the weekend, with their times so far this weekend considerably quicker than any of their rivals. 'We are very happy to be starting from the front. We couldn't match our times of yesterday because we were carrying more fuel. But the overall performance was good and the boat is handling well.' said Nadir Bin Hendi.

Victory 1's Mohammad Al Mehairi and Jean-Marc Sanchez had to make do with second place, as the championship leaders struggled to put together the perfect lap. Their time of 2mins 45.54secs was not quick enough to challenge Fazza and Sanchez was not happy with his times saying: 'I was expecting more performance from the laps. We have plenty of work to do in the race.'

Jorn Tandberg and Kolbjorn Selmer will start third on the grid, with their time of 2mins 46.67secs good enough for the final podium place. Despite this Tandberg was in bullish mood: 'I'm happy with that. Our target for the weekend was a podium and we have it already and both races still run. We are looking for the win and I think we can do it.' This was Selmer's first podium of any kind in Class 1 and he will want to put the bad luck of the last race behind him and turn qualifying speed into race performance.

Maritimo 11 and Victory 77 both vastly improved on their times from yesterday to qualify fourth and fifth respectively. Giorgioffshore hit a turn buoy on their first lap, but returned to the course to claim sixth place. Maritimo 12 could not match their pace from this morning's practice session, qualifying seventh ahead of Foresti & Suardi - Roscioli Hotels in eighth.

With the two current leaders of the world championship at the front of the grid, albeit in reverse order, the daunting challenge for the chasing pack is to see if they can catch and beat the Dubai team in Race 1 of round 3 of the UIM WPPA Class 1 World Powerboat Championship.

EDOX POLE POSITION - Results
1. Fazza - A Al Zafeen (UAE) / N Bin Hendi (UAE) - 02.42,85
2. Victory 1 - M Al Mehairi (UAE) / JM Sanchez (FRA) - 02.45,54
3. Welmax - KO Selmer (NOR) / J Tandberg (NOR) - 02.46,67
4. Maritimo 11 - T Barry-Cotter (AUS) / PV Nilsen (NOR) - 02.47,73
5. Victory 77 - A Al Mehairbi (UAE) / M Al Marri (UAE) - 02.52,25
6. Giorgioffshore - K Olsen (NOR) / N Giorgi (ITA) - 02.55,64
7. Maritimo 12 - G Manuzzi (SMR) / P McGrath (NZL) - 02.57,48
8. Foresti & Suardi - Roscioli Hotels - G Soave (ITA) / G Montavoci (ITA) - 02.57,70

EDOX POLE POSITION CHAMPIONSHIP - after round 3 of 6
1= Fazza - 44pts 1= Victory - 44pts 3. Qatar 95 - 35pts 4. Welmax - 26pts 5. Qatar 96 - 24pts 6. Maritimo 11 - 13pts 7. Giorgioffshore - 12pts 8. Maritimo 12 - 11pts 9. Foresti & Suardi-Roscioli Hotels - 8pts 10. Victory 77 - 7pts 11. Aurantium - 5pts

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by Nigel Quilter

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Class 1 Romanian Grand Prix - Fazza fastest to take Edox Pole

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