This weekend's dramatic race was not the turning point Pål Virik Nilsen and Tom Barry-Cotter had hoped and worked for. It started very well with a best time on the pole position Saturday. But unfortunately things happened on Sunday's race. A broken engine on lap four made the Mustang Maritimo boat stopped instantly. Its unlucky that the boys did therefor not start in race two, and become spectators instead. Which meant more points to lose for the reigning Aus-1 Champions the last three years. Now they're out of the fight for "Aus-1" title in 2011 unfortunately.
- I am of course very disappointed by this weekend, said Pal Virik Nilsen. We planned to improve our overall in Aus-1 series so this was the time for the turning point after two victories in the last rounds in Townsville. We know the boat works very well and it is therefore particularly boring that we stop because of technical problems.
But i am in fact very happy that we did not crashed bigtime during the first laps. Into a corner we had way to much speed and the boat skidded like a car after the first buoy. We thought the boat would roll over any time for many second. Some interesting seconds i must say.....
Pal talking with team owner Bill after a race.
This time it was one engine that failed. I know the team are working very hard on the boat and the engine builds Kurt Davies leaves many working hours in these new engines we use. Remember that this year is first and foremost a great test for us in terms of future challenges in the World Championship.
It is therefore natural to have some trial and error on the road. Now we have to find the problem and work towards victory in the remaining three races in the Geelong and Melbourne.
Pal will in the meantime run Italy GP in Class-1 World Championship with Chris Parsonage Racing Team and Pilot Giorgio Manuzzi from San Marino.
(Posted by wwwebteam)