APPELLINI WINS TO TIE GILLMAN FOR TITLE LEAD!

The 47 year-old driver from Como, Italy lead from start to finish taking his first win on the 8-turn 2.3 kilometer course in downtown Abu Dhabi since 1999 and now sets himself up for a possibility of winning his 10th world title.

"We did a lot of work over the past month and it really paid off," stated Guido. "We now have the confidence to get the job done and we feel we have the momentum to get one more victory and a title I've been dreaming of for a long time."

For Emirates driver Scott Gillman, he had to settle for 2nd trailing Cappellini all afternoon between two and four seconds on the race course finishing 2.86 seconds back after the 50 lap event. "We did our best and now will have to do what it takes to win next week in Sharjah," said Scott. "We will spend all week getting ready and are confident that the last lap is finished for the season we will be on top."

Teammate Thani Al Qamzi had the pressure of racing on his boat in front of his hometown crowd and did well to finish on the podium for the 2nd time in his last three race starts. The 28 year-old stayed within 8 seconds of the leader all afternoon finishing 6.32 seconds from Cappellini at the end.

French driver Philippe Chiappe had his career best finish taking a 4th after charging his way up from 18th on the start grid. He showed aggressiveness and capitalized on a great start to the event when he moved up quickly on the opening laps.

Swedish rookie Jonas Andersson came home fifth and moved himself closer in the battle for "Rookie-of-the-Year" honors as his two rivals for the title Ivan Brigada and Jay Price failed to get any points at today’s Grand Prix. Brigada dropped out after 26 laps and Price didn't start after falling ill prior to the race, which resulted
in a trip to the hospital for a few hours of observation.

Sami Selio of Finland finished 6th in his Red Devil sponsored boat 38.41 seconds behind the leader Cappellini tieing his best finish of the season. Italian Fabio Comparato took 7th after starting a lowly 16th on a good run.

French driver Philippe Dessertenne was 8th after starting 17th improving as the race went on while Fabian Kalsow of Germany had moved his Tamoil boat up to 5th at one point before settling for 9th while first time rookie Ahmed Al Hamli took a well deserved 10th in his first ever F1 event for the Emirates Team stepping up from F2.

The field of 25 drivers now moves on 160 kilometers northeast to the lovely city of Sharjah and the final round of the 2006 U.I.M. F1 World Championship. Both Scott Gillman and Guido Cappellini have won in the Khalid Lagoon before but next weeks race may be there biggest. The Grand Prix of Sharjah will take place on Friday the 15th of December and will be one of the most historic in the 25-year history of the sport, stay tuned.

Philippe Stiernon
F1 Press Officer