Joy for Ciantar as Seagull Chaudron seal title

Aaron Ciantar confirmed his status as the top driver in the Powerboat P1 SuperSport scene after steering Seagull Chaudron to overall victory in this year's world championship.

Seagull Chaudron and SNAV OSG (Evolution) were crowned Powerboat P1 world champions for 2009 after yesterday's sizzling season-finale at the Sicilian Grand Prix of the Sea.

The race for Evolution and SuperSport gold went tantalisingly down to the wire with both class champions having to wait until round ten's chequered flag to finally toast victory.

In yesterday's Endurance Race, Seagull Chaudron (Ciantar, Angelo Tedeschi and Viktor Shemchuk) collected 90 points after finishing second behind Team SW1 Capital, the overall winners of the Sicilian GP. Baia Attolini, who started the day only 11 points behind Seagull Chaudron, had to settle for third place.

Seagull, third in Saturday's Sprint Race, drove a risk-free race to ensure the title stays with Ciantar and his team for at least another 12 months.

Baia Attolini incurred a one-minute penalty for overspeeding but they hung on to third place as fourth-placed Iko Casa, of Shelley Jory and Audrienne Ciantar, ended the race well behind the Italian entry. Iko Casa finished fifth in the overall SuperSport standings with 597 points.

Big Sergio were fifth yesterday and Blue Shaft were forced to retire with an unspecified technical problem.

"This year's SuperSport championship was tougher than the last one," Ciantar was quoted as saying.

"The standard was higher because most of the entries made significant improvements and consequently produced a stronger challenge.

"There were moments during the season when our position at the top came under threat but we just had to keep calm and trust in our abilities."

Clyde Puli, the Parliamentary Secretary for Youth and Sport, was among the first to congratulate Ciantar for his achievement.

Tedeschi, the throttleman of Seagull Chaudron, cemented his place among the powerboat racing greats after scoring his third consecutive SuperSport class world championship title.

The Italian, who has been part of Powerboat P1 since the first-ever race in Italy seven years ago, attributed their season's success to the team's consistency and diligent preparation.

"Every year it gets better and better. The competition has been the hardest so in that respect it is definitely the most satisfactory.

"We've led the championship since Malta so it is richly deserved for everyone involved."

Triumphant Evolution class pilots Giancarlo Cangiano, Giovanni Carpitella and Hannes Bohinc have rarely been matched on the waters this season, winning exactly 50 per cent of the races and claiming a podium finish in all but two in 2009.

Heading to Sicily needing to overhaul Racing Silverline's 75-point lead, Cangiano and Carpitella backed up Saturday's Sprint victory with second place during yesterday's Endurance Race to finish runners-up in the overall Grand Prix of the Sea and consequently pip the British team at 2009's final hurdle.

Hoisting aloft his second Powerboat P1 World Championship trophy, OSG's jubilant team owner Cangiano said: "Every championship is a part of history but this is by far my best so far."

Hefty penalty

Prior to yesterday's race, Cigarette's Evolution entry, The Fantastic 1, were penalised 290 points following a breach of the series' power to weight ratio rulings.

Following Saturday's opening round of the Sicilian Grand Prix, an irregularity was found during the post race weigh-in of the Cigarette Smash Poker boat, which found the craft to be underweight. The boat was then weighed a second time for verification purposes and having registered an increase, a further inspection was conducted which revealed that inappropriate and unacceptable methods had been used by the team to alter the weight.

Final standings

SuperSport: 1. Seagull Chaudron 977 points; 2. Baia Attolini 957; 3. Team SW1 Capital 733.

Evolution: 1. SNAV OSG 811 points; 2. Silverline 785; 3. Furnibo 560.