1:08 AM Thu 3 Sep 2009 GMT
Internal restructuring within the International Offshore Team Association (IOTA) sees a reshuffle within IOTA's Board of Directors, with Gianfranco Venturelli appointed as Acting Chairman and Per Carsten Michelsen appointed to the Board alongside Nicola Giorgi, following the resignation of Bill Barry-Cotter.
The appointments follow a series of crucial meetings which were held during the course of last weekend's Romanian Grand Prix in Mamaia-Constanta between teams and IOTA Management to discuss the technical and racing rules and to establish a clear direction for the future of the sport, following a relatively turbulent period for the Championship which last month saw the withdrawal of the Spirit of Qatar Team and the resignation of HE Sheikh Hassan Bin Jabor Al-Thani as Chairman of IOTA.
The first action of the newly-appointed Board has been to set up a Team Commission, which will be made up of one member of each team competing in the 2009 and 2010 Class 1 World Powerboat Championships and chaired by Per Carsten Michelsen, after teams called for changes to be introduced that would stabilise and strengthen the Championship, allowing it to move forward in a constructive and united fashion. 'This has been a difficult period, but everyone is in agreement that the development of the Championship is the priority and in order to move forward, we must act. The Commission gives teams equal opportunity to put forward their proposals,' said Per Carsten Michelsen. 'We will evaluate what is put on the table and it will be the teams who decide on how we move forward. We are focussed now on several key areas, the technical rules and race management, and on these issues we are working to a tight timeline. The meetings will be conducted in a constructive and firm manner and I am confident that there is a strong will amongst the teams to find common ground and move forward.'
Teams will nominate their representatives to sit on the Commission by the end of today and have been asked to submit their proposals in writing by Tuesday, 15 September.
The Commission will meet in Milan to discuss and vote on the proposals on Monday, 28 September, with the accepted proposals submitted to the IOTA Board for ratification.
The proposals for the rule changes will be presented to the IOTA Board and submitted to the WPPA for ratification.
www.class-1.com/
by Class1 News
|
Double Is Pt, QLD
