Aaron Ciantar completed a memorable double of victories on home waters when he piloted Conam Yachts to its second successive win in the Malta GP of the Sea yesterday.
Flanked by team owner and throttleman Angelo Tedeschi, Ciantar again steered Conam Yachts to first place in yesterday's Supersport Sprint race to seal overall victory in the Malta GP and, more importantly, extend their lead at the top of the world championship standings.
Conam Yachts top the Supersport class standings with 500 points, 100 ahead of VoomVoom.com with Baia High Performance in third place on 330 points.
Conam Yachts were again in dominant form yesterday, grabbing the lead in the opening lap and gradually increasing the gap over their rivals with every lap completed. In the end, they powered home first in 40 minutes 28.07 seconds, a staggering 2.34 minutes ahead of second boat in Baia High Performance.
VoomVoom.com were lucky to hang on to third place after they looked like they had blown it late in the race when they spun out with two laps to go. However, they quickly regrouped to finish in third place.
"This is amazing," Ciantar told The Times yesterday. "Coming into this weekend's races, I was aware that the Maltese public expected me to win my home grand prix.
"The conditions today were slightly better than yesterday (Saturday) and that showed in the performance of the boat. After going ahead in the first lap, we went on to increase our advantage and in the end, we were comfortable winners."
For his part, Tedeschi paid tribute to the sterling contribution of Ciantar and his family to his boat's past and present success.
"I would like to dedicate this win to the Ciantar family," the Conam Yachts boat owner said. "Last year, they provided me with a winning boat and this year, Aaron joined my team and is making all the difference for us.
"Certainly, we are in a very good position in the championship race. However, there are still plenty of races to go and one bad performance could spoil all the good work we have done so far. It's important that we remain focused. Our rivals will get stronger in the coming weeks and we must continue to work hard to find ways of improving our boat even further."
In the Evolution Class, Kiton Outerlimits claimed their second win of the Malta Grand Prix of the Sea in yesterday's sprint event, securing overall victory and moving into second place in the standings.
Fountain Worldwide and Cigarette Racing Team were second and third respectively yesterday.
Next race is the Tunisia Grand Prix of the Sea, due to be held in Hammamet between July 11 and 13.
Supersport overall standings: Conam Yachts 500; VoomVoom. com 400; Baia High Performance 330; Silverline Buzzi Bullet 210; Saho 140; Phoenix 8 130; Sunseeker Challenger 70; The Spirit of Portomaso 60; Big Sergio 20.
Evolution standings: Fountain Worldwide 430; Kiton Outerlimits 340; GFN Gibellato 250; Lucas Oil 220; Pignolo 53 200; Cranefields Wine 170; The Fantastic 1 160; Centaurian Yachts 130; Honeyparty 60; Italcraft 30.