Formula 1 champion to crew in major offshore championship round
Champion Formula 1 circuit driver, Italian Guido Cappellini returns to the Class 1 Offshore Championship, 16-years after his offshore debut alongside Renato Molinari, in this week’s Brazilian Grand Prix in Rio de Janeiro on March 26-28.
The opportunity to race in the season-opener was offered to Cappellini by Domenico Cirilli, team principal of Spanish entry, Duemme Yacht Broker, following the last-minute and unexpected withdrawal of HRHP Turki Bin Thamer Bin Saud Al Saud.
“I’d like to thank Duemme Yacht Broker and IOTA who gave me this opportunity,” said Cappellini. “The Class 1 Brazilian Grand Prix in Rio de Janeiro is an historical event for powerboat racing and I am honoured to be one of the protagonists. It will be a new experience for me. I am really looking forward to testing and competing in the first event of the season and to understand how the discipline has developed over the years. It will be a new experience and of course and an opportunity to enjoy something different.”
Cappellini will take the wheel in the Michael Peters-designed Mercury V8-powered Tencara, Duemme Yacht – Foresti e Suardi, alongside fellow-Italian and experienced throttleman, Giampaolo Montavoci. Montavoci is a veteran of 92 races who finished fourth in the World Championship standings last season.
Born in Mariano Comense (CO), Italy on 7 September, 1959 and now living in Monte Carlo, Cappellini has dominated the Formula 1 Powerboat Championship for the last two decades, winning the World title on ten occasions.
