Bohinc focusses on Swedish mission

General News 04 August 2009 - Hannes Bohinc, one of the most distinguished pilots in world powerboating, will arrive in Gothenburg on Thursday, knowing that anything less than a win in the weekend’s Scandinavian Grand Prix may not be good enough to maintain the Championship challenge of the OSG Racing Team.

Racing with team owner and throttleman, Giancarlo Cangiano, another accomplished racer and former world champion, the team currently lies in second place in the Evolution Class with four races remaining, and Bohinc understands what must be done for the Mercury-powered SNAV OSG to stay in contention.

“Tough competition is guaranteed in Gothenburg, it’s the elements that are the unknown,” explains Bohinc.

“In endurance racing most things are unpredictable; the sea, the risk, the conditions and the performance of the boat.

In other words, to win at the top level is a challenge far greater than the sum of the competition.”

Bohinc, a successful Austrian entrepreneur, is one of only six pilots to have won the Cowes-Torquay-Cowes twice and one of only ten men to have won the coveted Harmsworth Trophy more than once.

He first discovered the thrill of offshore racing in 1994 and rapidly became one of the leading figures in the sport.

He has also experienced his share of drama, most notably when racing in the UIM Class 2 World Championships in Buenos Aires

 

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in 1997 when his boat overturned and stuck in the mud of the river bottom, jamming the canopy hatches shut.

“I was leading coming to the last lap and then my steering failed, we rolled and it quickly developed into a terrible situation.

It was not deep enough to open the hatch. So I was eight minutes without oxygen before the divers came and took me out. I was clinically dead.”

According to Hannes, “in business and racing matters, it is the same… no risk, no fun!”

The Powerboat P1 Scandinavian Grand Prix of the Sea comprises two races, a sprint event (45 nautical miles) on Saturday 8th August and an endurance event (73 nautical miles) on Sunday 9th August.

The planned start time on each day is 1530hrs.