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Nigel Hook Leads his Team to Victory in Italy
May 15, 2008
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From San Diego, USA to San Benedetto del Tronto, Italy Nigel Hook, Captain of the Mercury Racing powered #77 LUCAS OIL led his team to victory!
With the first ever P1 Evolution woman driver, Shelley Jory, at the helm of the #77 LUCAS OIL seizing her first Grand Prix win on her first entry, history was in the making.
But it was not easy. Running a team from California on a nine-hour time delay, the logistics of transporting over 15 tons of equipment across the USA, across the Atlantic to the UK for testing in Torquay, and then traversing Europe to the Adriatic Sea was a race in itself said race boat supervisor, John Hanas.
Thursday May 8, 2008 - Unofficial practice in the picturesque harbor of San Benedetto was just the second test location for the new Mercury Racing powered #77 LUCAS OIL which was completely re-rigged per Powerboat P1 specifications. These Mercury engines had been developed specifically for the Powerboat P1 World Championship Series.
Friday May 9, 2008 - The teams were led out for official practice and time trials called Power Pole. As confirmation of P1's simple and very successful competition formula, half of the fleet of Evolution boats qualified for pole position within a couple of seconds of each other. Keep in mind that these times were recorded on a constantly changing "liquid" race track and that the P1 Evolution fleet is comprised of race boats from Douglas Marine Skater, Cigarette, Outerlimits, Fountain, Searex, and Metamarine. Engines are comprised of Mercury (V8), Chief (V8), Ilmor (V10) and Seatek (diesels) with a combination of surface drives and Mercury Racing Speedmaster stern drives.
Saturday, May 10, 2008 - The P1 Evolution race boats raced to an innovative new start procedure for the 100-mile Endurance Race. The race boats were led out in a staggered grid behind the pace boat similar to Formula One. All Evolution race boats followed the pace boat in turning 90 degrees and pointed to towards the first turn.
“Green, Green, Green” broadcast over all radios visually synchronized with the blazing Traffic / Christmas Tree beacon lights atop the start boat and the traditional Green Flag. The race was on.
Both Mercury Racing powered boats, the #10 Cigarette and #77 LUCAS OIL Skater, arrived at the first turn buoy side-by-side. The Cigarette, driven by Luca Fendi was benefited by rounding the right-hand corners, but the #77 LUCAS OIL snatched the lead on the first left-hand corner and from that point commanded the lead until the last lap, taking second behind the #99 Fountain WorldWide driven by reigning World Champions Craig Wilson and James Sheppard.
Sunday, May 11, 2008 - 1600 hours commenced the 80-mile Sprint Race for the P1 Evolution class. With Nigel Hook quick on the throttles of the Mercury Racing powered #77 LUCAS OIL Skater, he gave the boat another first into the first turn buoy with blistering acceleration. Hot off the port transom was #66 Cranefields Wine and in a tactical move, Hook and Jory pulled back momentarily to let #66 enter the turn first. A fortuitous move as the #66 spun out wildly. Veering away (which at over 100mph covers a lot of ocean) to avoid the accident, the #77 was pulled way off course effectively allowing the next six race boats to get by dropping Hook and Jory back to seventh position. But not for long, one-by-one the Mercury Racing powered #77 LUCAS OIL Skater earned its way back to third place just passing its fellow Skater powered by Ilmor #53 Pignolo on the final straightaway. The #53 Pignolo Skater was driven by Max Ferrari, of no relation to the race car company but apparently third in line to the Italian Monarchy. The #53 was commanded by Throttleman Guido Capalini, 9-time UIM F1 World Champion.
A critical element in Powerboat P1's massive investment in this unique motor sport is the formula and enforcement of the rules ratified by the UIM World Authority (the water equivalent of land based FIA). Consequently following an interpretation relating to engines rules, the #99 Fountain was disqualified from Sunday’s race.
Overall winner of Powerboat P1 Rounds One and Two and awarded the 2008 ITALIAN GRAND PRIX of the SEA - #77 LUCAS OIL, throttled by Nigel Hook and driven by Shelley Jory.
All races can be seen live on Virtual Spectator and heard on P1 Radio. Television programs will be broadcast to 400+ million homes in 180 countries according to schedules posted on www.powerboatp1.com
As Captain on #77 LUCAS OIL, and on behalf of NIGEL HOOK RACING, we would like to thank our following sponsors who support this campaign:
• Lucas Oil (www.LucasOil.com)
• Mercury Racing (www.MercuryRacing.com)
• Lean Resource Manufacturing (www.GoingLean.co.uk)
• Raymarine (www.Raymarine.com)
• Douglas Marine Skater (www.SkaterPowerboats.com)
• Virtual Spectator (www.VirtualSpectator.com)
• MasterCraft Seats (www.MasterCraftSeats.com)
Last but not least, all of the team and Powerboat P1.