Tight finale in store as Baia cut into Chaudron's lead

A tight finale is anticipated this afternoon when the final round of the 2009 P1 World Championship will be held in Siracusa.

After the penultimate round yesterday, nothing is yet decided with SNAV OSG and Baia Attolini making further headway into the standings as current Evolution and Supersport leaders Silverline and Seagull Chaudron failed to wrap up the titles at the end of the Sprint Race.

Chaudron started the day 20 points in front of Baia in Supersport after a jury ruled that the eight extra points the Ukraine entry were awarded on the table last month will be taken away.

Seagull Chaudron were declared joint third with Baia after finishing fourth in Sweden following an appeal. However, that verdict was over-ruled yesterday.

The Supersport Sprint Race in Siracusa was won by Britain's SW1 Capital. Italians Baia were second and Seagull Chaudron third.

Aaron Ciantar, Angelo Tedeschi and Viktor Shemchuk are now a mere 11 points in front of Baia.

To retain the title, Seagull only have to finish behind Baia today. The winners receive 100 points and 91 go to the runners-up. The third-placed boat gets 83 points.

In Evolution, SNAV OSG, the Mercury-powered Outerlimits boat had an emphatic victory in the season's penultimate round.

With three Grand Prix victories already under their belt, OSG set about building a commanding lead, lapping current leaders Silverline twice in the process and winning the race by more than 40 seconds.

The result meant that with just today's Endurance Race remaining, OSG are only 35 points behind Silverline with Cigarette Smash Poker third, 39 points behind OSG.