#10 Fantastic 1 wins survival of the fittest

Sunday 13 July 2008

The #10 Fantastic 1 Cigarette boat took second place in the Tunisian PowerPole session

Today’s Evolution Sprint race round of the Tunisian Grand Prix of the Sea proved as much of a test of stamina of man and machine as Saturday’s Endurance race, with the #10 Fantastic 1 Cigarette Racing Team Europe squad, the #76 Italcraft boat and the #88 Kiton Outerlimits emerging the top-three survivors from an attrition-marked race.

The first few laps provided some of the closest racing of the season so far as the #10 Fantastic 1, the #60 GFN Gibellato, the #88 Kiton Outerlimits and the #99 Fountain Worldwide 1st4boats.com crews battled fiercely for position. By the end of the first lap, though the #99 Fountain Worldwide crew were slowing with broken steering, and the #60 GFN Gibellato boat was surging ahead into a dominant lead.

As the #88 Kiton Outerlimits boat slowed with an engine problem, the four-way battle turned into a two-way scrap that – in the closing laps – soon became a solo performance as the #60 GFN Gibellato boat followed the lead of the midfield runners and crawled to a halt. That put the #10 Fantastic 1 boat back ahead, with the US-backed Italian-run team scoring their first Powerboat P1 victory on a weekend when regular throttleman Lino Di Biase was replaced with Class 1 racer Matteo Nicolini.

“We didn’t have any problems at all,” said pilot Luca Formilli Fendi. “It’s fantastic to be scoring our first win. Although we’re a new team and a new boat, we knew from our performance in the first few races that it would only be a matter of time before we won. Obviously, today, we can say that there was a little bit of luck with so many teams dropping out, but sometimes that’s the luck that you need. It was fantastic to have Matteo in the cockpit. Lino has given me a great team-mate for today.”

The only joy for the #60 GFN Gibellato team was that the high rate of attrition meant they were able to score third place, and secure the overall Tunisian Grand Prix of the Sea honours from the #10 Fantastic 1 boat and Max Ferrari’s #53 Pignolo53 entry.