Singapore, September 19, 2004…. The Grand Prix of Singapore was an action packed race right from the green light with spectacular racing, crowd pleasing incidents and incredible tension throughout.

Dramas started on lap one with Francesco Cantando and Ivan Brigada racing hard at the fourth corner for 2nd place when their boats touched resulting in Brigada literally flying through the air, barrel rolling and ending upside down with four metres of the right side of his sponson being taken off.  Brigada was sent to the Singapore General Hospital for observation and doctors are reporting he is fine. 

Cantando who was lying 2nd in the Championship then requested that his team mate Moreschi give up his boat to allow him to race.  Cantando was racing well up until he was unfortunately forced to drop out on the third to last lap.   

Gillman and Cappellini battled boat to boat throughout the race with Gillman snatching the lead.  Unfortunately Cappellini’s steering started to give up after 15 laps and finally he had to retire after only 27 laps.   Gillman managed to retain the lead pushing all the way and securing his 19th career victory.

“It was incredibly disappointing,” commented Cappellini.  Although I was chasing Gillman I had very high hopes of at least getting a podium finish.”

Disaster struck Bocca from the Rainbow Corona team when his piston went through the side of his engine – the engine then exploded and caught on fire.  Fortunately the fire rescue team was there in seconds to rescue the driver who up until that point was enjoying a fantastic race at 5th place.

“Luck is not on my side,” commented an exasperated Bocca.  “I was really hopeful of a great finish today.”

Racing was fantastic for many of the new drivers today, with Ralf Sunde who raced his first ever race finishing in 9th place and picking up 2 points.  Philippe Chiappe also secured 3 points today for the first time in his two year history coming in 8th place.  New driver to the Corona team ended the day in 7th position with 4 points – only his 2nd race in Formula One.  Rookie of the year in 2003, Julius Leysen finished in 6th place taking home 5 points.

David Trask who is currently the front runner for the rookie of year ended 5th taking 7 points and Andy Elliot celebrated the success of his new boat when he scored 9 points for 4th place.

With so many boats dropping out of the race, the field quickly provided opportunities for two of the stronger drivers to snatch places on the podium.  A delighted Philippe Dessertenne who started out in ninth place finished 2nd and was clearly ecstatic.

“It is great to be on the podium again – we worked really hard for this race and I had a lot of confidence in my boat and engine.  I made a few mistakes at the beginning but I managed to combine both power and speed very effectively,” enthused Philippe.

Third on the podium today was a delighted Sami Selio who had been suffering some serious boat issues at the past two races.

“We used a brand new engine this race and literally changed everything we could in order to make improvements.  I still had some problems over this weekend however today’s race went really well and I am thrilled to finish in 3rd especially as by the end my boat was running on just 5 cylinders.”  Sami now has 52 points and lies 4th in the World Championship.

Winner of the race today and the second time he has won here in Singapore, Scott Gillman was beaming from ear to ear.  “It was a rough race, the conditions were tough but I enjoyed them.  I was very focused on beating Cappellini so much so that I didn’t realize he was out of the race for a while.  I started the race on a bigger propeller which doesn’t get me off the pontoon as quickly as some of the others but as my fuel went down the boat got lighter and I managed to increase my speed.  An effective strategy I think!”

“This was the best race of the year,” commented Nicolo di San German F1 Powerboat Promoter.  “Singapore is a fantastic city and a major international business centre – we’re looking forward to putting down a permanent anchor here!”

Racing now moves to Malaysia at Putra Jaya September 25-26, 2004 for the 8th race in the calendar.  See you there!