European victory in WPPA

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Victory 77's Arif Al Zafeen and Jean-Marc Sanchez took their third win of the season in an incident filled Romanian Grand Prix, round four of the WPPA Class 1 World Powerboat Championship, to clinch the 2007 WPPA Class 1 European Championship. The last time Dubai's Victory Team won the European crown was back in 2004 when Ali Nasser and Ali Al Qama were at the helm, but entering into the Romanian Grand Prix at the beginning of September, with 20 points at stake for the winner here, both Qatar 96 and Victory 7 had a straight chance of claiming the European title ahead of Victory 77. Bjorn Gjelsten and Steve Curtis maintained their unbeaten record in the Edox Pole Position, setting the fastest run on Mamaia's Lake Siutghiol, to claim pole position for the 21-lap, 97.76 Nm Romanian Grand Prix. "It was important to win and be on pole for the race," said Spirit of Norway's Steve Curtis. "We want to go all the way and see that the title is decided in Dubai at the end of the championship,"

However, it was to be another all-Middle East podium on the day. Following a chaotic start, with two boats appearing to go early, Al Zafeen and Sanchez were lying in third place at the end of lap 1, behind Negotiator, with team mates Al Sayed and Nadir bin Hendi in Victory 7, out in front. They overhauled Chris Parsonage and Bard Eker in Negotiator a lap later and fought back to grab the lead on lap 6. For the next three laps, Victory 77 fought off a strong challenge from rivals Qatar 96, who had moved up through the field from fifth place on the first lap, to be challenging for the lead.

On lap 10, Victory 77 took their first long-lap, but as they came off the lap had to swerve violently to avoid Qatar 96 coming out of the turn, but went on to take the win and extend their world championship lead to 19 points. Second place for Sheikh Hassan and Matteo Nicolini, Qatar 96's fourth consecutive podium of the season, was not enough to regain the European crown they won in 2005, but keeps them second in the hunt for the overall title and marked the President of the Qatar Marine Sport's Federation's 13th podium finish in Class 1 racing.

Qatar 95, Spirit of Norway and Negotiator completed the top 5 placings, a blessing for Chris Parsonage and Bard Eker, who have been plagued by mechanical faults this season. Victory 7 had to retire due to a broken propeller, but still lies in fourth place behind Spirit of Norway for the World Championship.

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