Portugal gears up for PowerPole Friday

Friday 26 September 2008

Portimao's picturesque beachs will be a perfect vantage point for the Powerboat P1 races

Well, it may only be Friday, but the Powerboat P1 paddock is already a hive of activity as we gear up for this weekend’s Portuguese Grand Prix of the Sea. The highlight of today’s action is the PowerPole session 16:00 local time (15:00 GMT), but there’s a bevy of things going on in and around the Marina Portimao.

This afternoon, Portuguese national TV channel RTP (www.rtp.pt) will be broadcasting the show ‘Portugal No Coracao’ direct from the side of the marina,. So be sure to tune in between 15:20 and 16:00 to get a taste of the atmosphere in the build-up to Sunday’s live race coverage on Sport TV3 (www.sporttv.pt).

If you’re in the paddock and dry pits, there’s plenty to keep you amused, with exhibition stands and official merchandise and chance to take a walk round a genuine F-16 fighter jet – exactly the same sort of plane that will be taking to the air for a display with the ‘Rotores de Portugal’ helicopter team on Saturday and Sunday.

If you’re in the heart of Portimao city centre, we’ll be showing race coverage on the big screens, and you can keep track of what’s going on with our live radio coverage on Kiss FM – broadcasting on 95.8FM and 101.2FM

We’ve also got a bevy of guests coming to the paddock over the next few days. Yesterday, Portuguese motorcycling star and Paris-Dakar stage winner Ruben Faria took a look around the paddock, while today a group of children from the local School AB1-Chao Das Donas will be taking a tour of the paddock and meeting some of the teams to get a taste of the Powerboat P1 world.

On Saturday morning, the SuperSport Sprint race starts at 11:00 local (10:00am GMT), while the Evolution Sprint race gets the green flag at 16:15 local (15:15 GMT). Then, from 19:30 in the evening, there’s a host of activities in the paddock, including a fashion show and live music at Pier F and a Sasha Beach Party with DJ Rob di Stefano.

The Sunday timetable is very similar, with the season-closing SuperSport Endurance race at 11:00 local (10:00am GMT) and the potentially title-deciding Evolution Endurance race at 16:15 local (15:15 GMT). So, pop along to the paddock or stay with us online for what looks set to be a great weekend.