Is it Fazza versus Victory 1 for the Class 1 European Crown?

10:13 AM Thu 10 Sep 2009 GMT

'UIM WPPA Class 1
World Powerboat Championship
Photo: Raffaello Bastiani' Class 1 World Powerboat Championship &copy

The Victory Team will be looking to complete the first leg of the Grand Slam by lifting the European Championship in the Italian Grand Prix in Stresa in three weeks time, when Class 1 returns to racing on Italian water's for the first time since 2002.

The haul of all four titles in a season has so far eluded the Dubai based team - missing out last year when Mohammed Al Marri and Nadir Bin Hendi lost out in the European title race by a single point - and has only ever been achieved by Spirit of Norway, completing the clean sweep of World, European, Middle East and Edox Pole Position Championships in 2003 and 2006.

The race for the European crown looks to be between a straight in-house fight between the World Championship leaders, Fazza's Arif Al Zafeen and Nadir Bin Hendi, who hold the whip hand and a seven point advantage in the European Championship standings over team-mates, Mohammad Al Mehairi and Jean-Marc Sanchez, Victory 1.

However neither crew will take it for granted that the title is theirs, with both Maritimo 11 and Welmax in contention, albeit 11 and 15 points respectively, in arrears, but looking to spoil any Victory celebrations.

The Australian and Norwegian outfits know they will have to up their game if they are to match the pace and performance of Fazza and Victory 1, but both are in a rich vein of form; Maritimo 11's Tom Barry-Cotter and Pal Nilsen taking two podiums in the last three races and defending European Champion, Jorn Tandberg and Kolbjorn Selmer, Welmax, climbing onto the podium three times in Romania.

Constanta
Class 1 World Powerboats Championship 2009 -
Photo: Simon Palfrader - Class 1 World Powerboat Championship &copy

Event website: click here

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Is it Fazza versus Victory 1 for the Class 1 European Crown?

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