Ciantar - the Golden Boy who made Malta proud

In 2004, when Malta featured for the first time on the P1 calendar, the organisers gave a last-minute wild-card participation to a local entry.

Following a positive performance, a favourable comment was posted on the organisation's official website. It read: "Wild card entrant, Team Chaudron Wicked, seriously impressed the full-time pilots with their skill during the Grand Prix of Malta".

Aaron Ciantar, 24, was throttleman on the day.

"Our boat was in no way suitable for such a demanding race. Wicked was constructed and equipped as a pleasure boat. Yet, we did reasonably well and had we not sustained damage to the power trim bracket during the round-Malta race we would have fared even better," remarked Ciantar.

For the Maltese team, racing at this level was like living through a pleasant dream.

This was the beginning of a fantastic P1 experience to the brand name Chaudron, the Ciantar family, and Malta, too. Ciantar's burning ambition quickly left its mark and he established himself as a popular personality on the circuit, admired mostly for his character and respected for his skills, both as a driver and boat builder.

Chaudron had hoped to finish on time their new boat for the seven-destination programme of the 2005 championship. However, this did not materialise, so, it had to be again the same 10-metre racer of the previous year, this time equipped with a pair of brand new 250 HP Mariner outboards.

A major novelty for 2005 was the introduction of the brother-and-sister crew, Aaron (pilot) and Audrienne (navigator) Ciantar, as the Chaudron Team.

The 2005 championship was a rewarding experience for the Maltese participants as 46 ESI Chaudron gained third place overall in SuperSport, a championship contested by seven boats.

Furthermore, the locals won two of the six Personality Awards, namely, Sportsperson of the Season, won by Charles Ciantar, and Rookie of the Year which went to Aaron.

Writing my P1 championship's round-up then, I recall remarking that had I been part of the press jury at Capri, I would have proposed another award - the P1 Mermaid of the Year. Here I would have nominated Audrienne Ciantar for being the only woman among 15 teams engaging some 35 crew.

Season 2006 brought about a brand new 10m Chaudron, supported with two new powerful Mercruiser 496 inboards. Aaron and Audrienne, racing The Casino at Portomaso in yellow colours, tackled the championship with great confidence, featuring most competitively in four of the six events. However, with the podium in sight, they had to retire with engine failure on the other two occasions.

Unfortunately, the 2007 P1 Championship turned out to be a disappointing one for Portomaso Chaudron. Possibly the worst result in their P1 experience where they finished sixth out of eight Supersport Class teams.

However, the 2007 campaign was a most commercially gratifying season for Chaudron where their product, 13-metre Italian Roscioli Hotels Roma, won the SuperSport Championship.

Angelo Tedeschi - team owner and throttleman of the winning team - attributed his success to the consistent solid performance of his boat, definitely a rewarding recognition to Charles Ciantar and his family business.

The 2008 championship brought about stunning innovations where the Chaudron P1 correlation was concerned.

Tedeschi convinced Aaron Ciantar to join him as driver, an exciting opportunity, where the only regret was relinquishing the brother-and-sister team. The boat previously raced by Aaron and Audrienne was purchased by Benjamin Van Riet, of Belgian nationality. His decision to race that year meant two Chaudron boats were on the circuit.

The Tedeschi-Ciantar partnership was a huge success - the 2007 Chaudron-built Conam Yachts won the SuperSport category again in 2008.

Undoubtedly, the 2009 season resulted in an outstanding achievement for Aaron, Chaudron and Maltese sport in general.

The business proposal of Ukrainian powerboats fanatic, Victor Shemchuk, namely to buy a new Chaudron only if it is raced by Aaron, paid dividends.

Shemchuk purchased the boat and went on to secure winning duo Ciantar and Tedeschi to join and race for the Ukrainian team with Shemchuk himself as navigator.

A winning team raced Seagull Chaudron to conquer a highly-contested SuperSport Championship, establishing unique records in the process - Shemchuk became the first Ukraine national to win a P1 championship on his first attempt; Tedeschi made it a hat-trick of consecutive championships; Ciantar, as a driver, made it a double with a follow-up victory to that of 2008; and boat-builders Chaudron made it an extraordinary hat-trick of wins as constructors.

Season 2009 also saw the first ever all-female team on the P1 circuit. This was made up of Shelley Jory (driver) and Audrienne Ciantar (throttle). They raced Tedeschi's Chaudron winner, re-named Iko Casa and finished fifth in the overall standings.

Now what's next for the Golden Boy and Chaudron?

Well, definitely not the time to ask questions. Still time for champagne and caviar (presumably Ukrainian)... fame and fortune were overwhelming yet the winning spirit is still fervent to face further challenges.