Local hero Ciantar wins Malta Grand Prix event

'#44 Conam Yachts leads the field at the start of the SuperSport Endurance race in Malta' U.I.M Powerboat P1 World Championship - &copy Click Here to view large photo

Local Maltese hero Aaron Ciantar, driving the #44 Conam Yachts entry, piloted his team to victory in today's SuperSport Endurance event - the first race of the Malta Grand Prix of the Sea weekend. Ciantar and reigning SuperSport champion throttleman Angelo Tedeschi led the race from start to finish in their locally-built, Mercury-powered Chaudron boat.

The SuperSport championship-leading team were untouchable as they attacked the rough seas off the coast of host city Valletta, securing their second success of the weekend after yesterday's PowerPole win. 'It was a really hard race,' said Tedeschi. 'The conditions out there were much tougher than we imagined. Aaron drove so well, and it is a wonderful result for the team in front of the thousands of Maltese fans.'

With two boats - the #08 Phoenix 8 and the #46 Spirit of Portomaso - forced out at the start of the race due to mechanical problems, the remaining teams took to the start line as the wind increased . As the seas got rougher, attrition was bound to be a factor and, by the fourth lap, the #22 Big Sergio entry had retired with mechanical difficulties, while the #59 Saho boat suffered a broken water pump.

Drive of the day came from the #07 VoomVoom.com crew, who came from the back of the field to take a dramatic second place from the #38 Baia High Performance boat in the closing stages. Renato Guidi, throttleman of the #38 Baia High Performance Team, said: 'The whole team is exhausted, and the conditions were so rough that one of the pilot's seats was shaken loose. Even so, it's a great result for the team.'

VoomVoom.com team owner Vee Gangavian, added: 'It took a while for us to get up to speed, but towards the end of the race we finally found a happy medium between the drives and the tabs. At the end, we took every turn as tight as possible and kissed almost every buoy-we didn't want to give up our position after fighting so hard.'

Despite choosing the wrong propellers for the conditions, #47 Buzzi Bullet continued its fight to the finish. 'Conditions changed radically from testing as the wind came up and the seas were much rougher. That said, it was a great race and it was good to get our points and finish,' said pilot Jan Falkowski.