General News 12 September 2009 - On the eve of Powerboat P1’s season finale in Sicily, all three championship contenders suffered setbacks to their preparations as the tension builds and the conditions deteriorate.

With 3 metre swells reported in places, it is a race against time for the Evolution class top-three as they prepare for tomorrows Sprint race.

Evolution Class leaders, Silverline and third placed, Cigarette Smash Poker, suffered blown engines during the mornings practise whilst OSG Racing discovered a hair line crack to the hull of its Outerlimits powerboat, SNAV OSG.

Whilst not considered race-threatening, the team’s pilots, Hannes Bohinc and Giancarlo Cangiano were forced to abandon plans for this afternoons PowerPole, as the team set about repairing the damage area.

“It may have been caused by the heavy conditions”, explains OSG Team Manager, Giovanni Carpitella.

 “We are now in the process of re applying carbon fibre to the affected area. If we had tried to race with a crack, the pressure of the water could have resulted in major damage.

”For championship leaders, Silverline, the loss of an engine is a more serious set-back although the team has travelled from its UK base with a replacement which they expect to have fitted and race-ready by tomorrow.

“The boat felt good and we were relishing the heavy conditions when we lost power,” says Silverline pilot, Jan Falkowski.  It was the final lap of our test session, better to happen now than in the race.”

Today’s action, in the dry pits, was fast and furious.