World Champion offshore racers Willy Cabeza and Grant Bruggemann, the pilots of the Factory Stock class MTI 390XR GC Racing, have begun testing Cabeza's long-awaited 482R Pro Class 1 project, a slightly modified version of MTI's 482 pleasure catamaran that debuted at the 2024 Miami International Boat Show. "We retooled the deck for the class," says MTI President Randy Scism, "but it is exactly the same running surface as our 482 pleasure boat."

Speedboat got its first look at the livery of the #32 Team Marine Technology, which has been fully rigged and will soon go head to head with competitors like defending World Champions Team Defalco, dfYOUNG, XINSURANCE North, XINSURANCE South and Monster Energy/M•CON when the new season kicks off next month in Cocoa Beach, FL, May 16-18.

The boat's design was a collaboration between MTI, Cabeza and the team at Wes Jones Design Works, who worked through several renderings. "I think it came out awesome," Scism says.

Cabeza told Speedboat that the move up to Pro Class 1—his first season participating in that class—doesn't rule out a campaign in what has become 500R Factory Stock in 2025. "We might do a couple of races with the boat," he says. "We just don't know which ones. But we have to race at least two in order to qualify racing in the World Championships in Key West." But don't look for the GC Racing name—Cabeza plans to wrap the boat to honor his sponsorship with MTI, so the 390XR will be renamed Marine Technology as well.

After doing some initial testing at Mercury Marine's Lake X in Florida, Cabeza and Bruggeman plan to continue their preparations in Miami after the boat arrives at Haulover Marine Center. "We had one test session, but there were some gusting winds," Randy Scism told Speedboat. "It was good testing—good for us, good for Willy, but not good for getting actual numbers. We're still playing with it, but it's running great."

The 482R retains the hull of the 482 pleasure boat, but will feature a newly designed deck mold tailored specifically for Pro Class 1 racing, as well as safety equipment as their top priority. "It meets all the requirements," Cabeza says. "We've worked with Rick Hendricks Motorsports on the interior of the boat. They've figured out how to make the interior much safer with the safety pods that have been installed. Basically, we have the same exact seats that are used in NASCAR. The dashes had to be changed and the entire interior had to be redone. The development of this technology began in Taylor Scism's MTI #7 raceboat."

Randy Scism told Speedboat that after three seasons of racing, Cabeza is ready to rock Pro Class 1. "I think it's going to be a great step up for him, and I think they're going to be very competitive. Hopefully, they come out of the box pretty strong and work their way onto the podium. Eventually, I hope they get good enough to move all the way up. We're very excited for them. It's a full-time job to win in that class. They're going to have to put some seat time in, and they're going to have to battle, because that class represents the best of the best. But they all have the same equipment and the same power—the Mercury Racing 1100 package is really cool. It's going be a blast. It's not going to be easy, but I think they'll be just fine."

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