Marine
Mercury Racing Packs 1-2 Punch in Powerboat P1 World Championship
Mercury 662 SCi’s Powered Furniboto Victory in the Sicilian Grand Prix of the Sea
Mercury P1 Race Engines Powered SNAV/OSGto the 2009 Season Championship of Powerboat P1 Racing
FOND DU LAC, Wis., Sept. 15, 2009 – Pierre Colpin and Frank Hemelaer piloted Furnibo, a 43-foot Fountain hull powered by 8.2 Liter Mercury Racing engines, to win the Sicilian Grand Prix of the Sea Evolution class contest Sunday, Sept. 13, in Sicily, Italy. The winning engines are based off the popular EU662 SCi, served by Van Akelyen Service in Belgium, The event was the final round of the 2009 Powerboat P1 World Championship season. The hard charging Belgian team started its near perfect weekend by capturing the Powerpole on Friday. The team continued on its trek to cinch the overall Evolution class victory with a second place finish in the Sprint Race on Saturday, and an Endurance race victory on Sunday. Colpin and Hemelaer took charge of the Endurance race from the start lap and proceeded to dominate the field for the entire 15-lap, 76.59 nautical mile Endurance race.
Giancarlo Cangiano, Giovanni Carpitella and Hannes Bohinc piloted SNAV/OSG, a 43-foot Outerlimits hull powered by twin Mercury Racing P1 race engines, coupled with Mercury Racing dry-sump Six drives, to a second place finish in the Endurance event Sunday. That, backed up with their impressive Sprint race victory on Saturday, earned them the 2009 Powerboat P1 Evolution Class Championship. The Mercury Racing powered SNAV/OSG was rarely contested all season, winning 50 percent of the races, and claiming a podium finish in all but two of the 2009 Evolution class contests. The team also earned 50 “reliability” bonus points, awarded for running the same set of engines through the season.
OSG’s team owner Cangiano said, “Every championship is a part of history but this is by far my best so far.”
“This is the championship of technology, organization, power and experience and for me it is my greatest achievement in powerboat racing.”
“We have a very good team, Hannes has won two world titles and it was fantastic sharing Giovanni’s first Powerboat P1 prize.”
“Our aggressive mentality paid off. We beat everyone in every department this year, and that is the secret to continued success.”
SNAV/OSGentered the final event with a 75 point deficit to Evolution class points leader Silverline. Silverlinehad a turn of bad luck when one of their Sterling race engines failed in official practice on Friday, causing it to miss Powerpole qualifying, and also knocking it out of contention of gaining valuable engine reliability bonus points. Silverline finished second overall in the P1 Powerboat Evolution class World Championship points.
Silverlinenavigator Jan Falkowski complimented OSG for its efforts, agreeing that the best team won overall.
“We would’ve bitten your arm off if you had offered us second place at the start of the year.”
“We haven’t had the fastest boat, but it’s never nice to get so close and have it snatched away right at the last minute.”
Furnibo pilots Colpin and Hemelaer rounded out third overall in the Evolution class points standings.
Complete P1 racing information is available at www.powerboatp1.com.
About Mercury Racing
Based in Fond du Lac, Wis., Mercury Racing, a division of Mercury Marine, is a leading provider of high-performance marine propulsion systems for discriminating boaters worldwide, offering an exciting and fulfilling power boating experience on the water. Using leading-edge technology, Mercury Racing produces high-performance outboards, sterndrives, propellers, parts and accessories. Mercury Racing-powered boats win more races worldwide and set more records as compared to boats powered by other marine engine manufacturers. Mercury Marine is a division of Brunswick Corporation (NYSE: BC), the world’s largest manufacturer of recreational products, including pleasure boats, marine engines, fitness equipment, and bowling and billiards.
CONTACT: Rick Mackie
Mercury Racing
Senior Marketing Manager
Phone: 920-924-2032
FAX: 920-921-6533
E-mail: rmackie@mercmarine.com
