2008 Evolution – team-by-team

We examine how the Evolution class title battle unfolded, and how #99 Fountain Worldwide 1st4boats.com ended up top of the heap for a second time

A quick glance at the top of the Evolution class standings would suggest that not much has changed from last year. But, while the reigning champion #99 Fountain Worldwide 1st4boats.com crew of throttleman Craig Wilson and pilot James Sheppard lead the points table by 150 points from the #60 GFN Gibellato boat of Marco Pennesi and Giampaolo Montavoci, 2008 hasn’t been a carbon copy of their 2007 dominance.

The #99 Fountain Worldwide team continued with their world-beating Fountain-Ilmor package from 2007 for this year. Dominant results in the season-opener in San Benedetto del Tronto in Italy and in Marseille, France, suggested that Wilson and Sheppard would cruise to a second title, but technical problems in Valetta, Malta, and Hammamet in Tunisia narrowed their early lead at the top of the points table.

In Vigo, Spain, a problem in Sunday’s Endurance race meant they couldn’t afford any slip-ups in the season-finale in Portimao, Portugal. Third place in front of the #60 GFN Gibellato boat was just enough to guarantee the title, before heavy rain and winds washed out the Endurance event on Sunday. So, 2008 hasn’t been as easy as 2007 for Sheppard and Wilson, but the fact that they’ve had to work even harder against even tougher competition makes the duo’s back-to-back titles even more impressive.

Second place in the standings was an impressive achievement for the Italian-based #60 GFN Gibellato team. The diesel Seatek-engined, heavyweight Metamarine hull that formed the basis of Marco Pennesi and Giampaolo Montavoci’s assault may not have been the first choice for many as Powerboat P1 has continued to move to tighter, twistier courses, but the powerful boat has often outrun its smaller competition in the rougher-than-usual Mediterranean waters, especially as it gets lighter towards the end of races. Only problems getting up to speed off the line and a few technical gremlins have prevented them from featuring more often on the winners’ podium. You can imagine they’ll be a team to watch again in 2009.

Second for much of the year, but ending the season third after #60 GFN Gibellato picked up 50 bonus reliability points was the Italian-based #88 Kiton Outerlimits OSG Racing outfit of Giancarlo Cangiano. The Powerboat P1 veteran has given his team a new look this year, with a change from the twin canopy Donzi hull to the Outerlimits hull, allied to Mercury Racing engines.

In the particularly rough seas of Malta and Portimao, the long Outerlimits hull was unbeatable. But, although Mercury has stepped up its campaign to try and get back ahead of vaunted newcomer Ilmor, the inevitable problems of matching a new engine and hull provided early-season technical gremlins for Cangiano that ultimately hampered the team’s title bid at the final hurdle. You can be sure they’ll be focused on solving these for 2009 as they bid to get back to their 2006 title-winning ways.

Fourth in the title chase were the #53 Pignolo 53 team, with Max Ferrari, Guido Cappellini and Francesco Redealli proving consistent points finishers and even podium challengers in their second year in Powerboat P1’s top class. Combining the solid Skater hull with Ilmor engines seems to have been a good call by the Italian outfit, which is proving punchy, pacey and reliable in equal measure. A win in Spain further boosted what has been an impressive second season, and Ferrari and his team are bound to step their efforts another notch in 2009 as they push for the big crown.

The #10 Fantastic 1 Cigarette Racing Team Europe may have been a new addition to Powerboat P1 in 2008, but the heritage and reputation of Luca Formilli Fendi and Lino Di Biase in a Mercury-powered Cigarette-built hull ensure that they’d always be an outside threat for wins in their first year. The fact that they managed it as early as Tunisia – with Class 1 racer Matteo Nicolini boosting their line-up – is a sign of just how serious a challenge the Eugenio Voltolina-run team could be for the overall crown in 2009.

A solid sixth in the Powerboat P1 standings is the #77 Lucas Oil boat. Nigel Hook’s new team has potentially one of the most potent packages in the series with a Skater hull and Mercury engines, but the US-based outfit has struggled to consistently score solid points finishes. When they’re running trouble-free, they’ve shown solid front-running pace, and new Powerboat P1 pilot Shelley Jory has proved she’s up to the cut-and-thrust of the championship among the old hands. Strong podium finishes in Italy and Spain were the highlights. Don’t be surprised if this team is back at the front in 2009, looking for wins and a shot at the title.

Equal on points to #77 Lucas Oil, but just losing out on podium finish countback is the #66 Cranefields Wine boat. The German-bases Searex Racing crew of Siegfried Grieve and Gino Passchier have put in some solid performances this year in their Mercury-powered Searex Falcon 40 hull, which have enabled them to stay ahead of the similarly Mercury-powered Outerlimits hull of the all-Belgian #57 Centaurian Yachts team. Pilot Frank Hemelaer, throttleman Nico Huybens and navigator Pierre Colpin will be keen to try and reverse that situation in 2009.

The #69 Honeyparty.com crew of Richard Carr and Mark Pascoe deserve much, much better than their ninth place in the standings. Their Chief-engined Skater hull has shown real front-running pace and the team really deserved their win in Virgo, Spain, but the boisterously British outfit have been let down by a series of ever-more frustrating technical problems that have denied them a more consistent points-finishing record. If the team can cure these in the off-season, expect them to be ranking much, much higher in the points standings this time next year.

At the latter end of the points table, the #76 Italcraft team of Adriano Panatta, Mauro Pallini and Roberto Biancalana take the 10th-place spot by virtue of a couple of strong points finishes in their limited outings in their Seatek-powered Metamarine hull. The team are working on their new Seatek diesel-powered Binautica di Viareggio-built hull for next year, so you can imagine they’ll be looking for a better finish in 2009.