FORMULA 2000 UIM CHAMPIONSHIP
Round 3 – Grand Prix of Italy
For immediate release
Tuesday, July 20th, 2004
QATAR TEAM AIMS TO CONTINUE
RUN OF SUCCESS IN GP OF ITALY
Team leading driver Jay Price looks for victory; Qatar’s Al-Ali confident with new engine
MILAN (Italy): The Qatar Team will be bidding to continue its run of success in this year’s Formula 2000 UIM Championship, when Jay Price and Mohamad Al-Ali tackle the Grand Prix of Italy at Idroscalo Park, near Milan, this weekend (July 23rd-25th).
After an excellent performance on the opening round of the series in Croatia, Jay Price went on to win the Match Race at Saint Nicolas de Redon last month and finished third overall in the F2000 Grand Prix race the following day. He now holds second position in the overall championship standings, a mere five points behind the Italian Ivan Brigada, winner of the GP of France.
~The team have made an excellent start to the season and we need to keep the momentum going,~ said Doha-based Qatar Team Manager Mohamed Al-Jaidah. ~We have acquired a new engine for Mohammed Al-Ali’s DAC and I am confident that he now has the performance and pace to make him capable of taking top five positions.
~We have prepared thoroughly for race weekend. The boats have been tested and we have looked at the problems which beset Mohamad in the last race. Now I know that first place is a very realistic possibility.~
Forty-year-old Ali began racing at the F2000 President’s Cup four years ago and his best result in Boat GP to date was 10th position in the 2002 Grand Prix of Italy. New Orleans-based Price began racing in 1985 and has won multiple T1 awards in Mexico and the United States.
Points are awarded for three disciplines on race weekend. The Match Race is open to the 16 fastest boats and they line up in pairs to tackle two timed laps before the winners go forward to the next round. Points are awarded after the quarter-finals, semi-final and the ‘Grand Finale’.
The Speed Record test is another crucial discipline. The fastest time recorded in the three-year history of the new Boat GP series was 181.1 km/h set by the Italian Matteo Turati in Croatia last year. The third and final discipline is the actual GP race.
~I am confident that I can win all three disciplines in Italy,~ said Price, the 45-year-old making his ninth start in F2000 GP racing. ~For sure the competition will be tough and I think that the number 80 boat of Ivan Brigada will push me very hard. I have finished second and third in the races so far this season, so a win cannot be far away.~
Brigada leads the championship with 32 points, to Price’s 27, although the Italian will be determined to win his home event in his Pabri-Tech Racing boat, on the event which is being held in conjunction with the Italian Motonautical Federation (FIM) and the Woodstock Yacht Club.
Also likely to feature among the front-runners are Frenchman Bruno Carsin of the ART Boat Team and Sweden’s Jonas Andersson, last year’s World Champion and the winner of the opening race in Croatia. All boats are built to a similar UIM SST-120, 2.0-litre specification.
~I have been flying the flag of the Qatar Marine Sports Federation in the UIM Class One Power Boat Championship this year,~ said Sheikh Hassan bin Jabor Al-Thani, President of the QMSF. ~And Mohamed Al-Jaidan, Jay Price, Mohamad Al-Ali and the team have been doing us proud in the Boat GP series.~
This weekend’s action takes place on the sheltered waters of the Idroscalo Park, near Milan, over a 1600-metre, four-pin rectangular course. Time trials, free practice and the Match Race take place on Saturday, before the GP of Italy begins at 16.00 hrs (local time) on Sunday afternoon.
Subsequent races will follow in Latvia next month and Dubna in Russia in September, before the racers move to the warmer waters of the Arabian Gulf for a pair of GP meetings in Abu Dhabi and Qatar in November.
Ends
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