Appeal boost for #60 GFN Gibellato

Thursday 25 September 2008

An appeal win has given the #60 GFN Gibellato boat a 80-point boost coming into Portugal

The #60 GFN Gibellato team have received a last-minute boost in their bid to beat the defending #99 Fountain Worldwide 1st4boats.com outfit to this year’s Evolution-class title. The Italian crew won the appeal for their disqualification from second place in the Marseille Grand Prix of the Sea Sprint race, regaining 80 points as a result.

Powerboat racing’s governing body, the UIM, had excluded the #60 GFN Gibellato boat from the Sprint race results in Marseille for what was deemed to be their part in the first corner collision with the #57 Centaurian Yachts and #66 Cranefields Wine boats. In this week’s appeal hearing, though, the #60 GFN Gibellato boat have been cleared of any wrong-doing and regain their second-place finish and the 80 points that come with it.

That puts the #60 GFN Gibellato boat just 190 points behind the #99 Fountain Worldwide crew with 200 points up for grabs in this weekend’s Portuguese Grand Prix of the Sea races. They can also gain an additional 50-point reliability bonus for the second half of the year – something that the #99 Fountain Worldwide team won’t be able to claim.

The #99 Fountain Worldwide team need to score 60 points more than the #60 GFN Gibellato squad in Saturday’s Evolution-class Sprint race to be sure of winning this year’s title. Otherwise, the championship chase will go to Sunday’s season-closing Sprint race – which will be shown live on Sport TV3 – when it’s anyone’s game.