Bad weather brings Portuguese GP to an end

Sunday 28 September 2008

Heavy wind and rain has delayed today's Powerboat P1 season-closing action in Portugal

Well, conditions improved slightly during the course of the day, but – in the last hour – the high winds and heavy rain that forced the delay to this morning’s racing have unfortunately returned. Powerboat P1 officials have been out to inspect the course, and it has been deemed that conditions are too dangerous for racing.

That means that this weekend’s season-closing SuperSport and Evolution Endurance races – which were due to be run on a shortened, 3.28Nm storm course – have both been cancelled, meaning there will sadly be no more action today.

“Obviously we’re very disappointed not to be racing today, especially for those teams still fighting for second and third places in the Evolution and SuperSport championships, but we do not compromise on safety issues - the safety of all competitors and our spectators is paramount,” said Powerboat P1 CEO Jim O’Toole. “We tried our best and investigated every way possible to try to run the races, but it wasn’t to be. We are all very sad because the event has been truly spectacular, with a very enthusiastic audience and the product of enormous effort of all parties involved, namely Portimao and its mayor.”

We’re still due to present the newly-crowned Evolution and SuperSport champions with their prizes on the podium at 17:00 local time (16:00 GMT), so stay tuned.