Powerboat P1 has announced the UIM Class 1 World Championship race calendar for the 2023 season, which sees the series heading to Wisconsin for the first time and returning to favorite locations in Florida and Indiana. A fleet of eight Class 1 boats is expected to compete in the six-venue championship from May through to September.

In October 2020, the Union Internationale Motonautique (UIM) assigned to Powerboat P1 the international rights to Class 1 racing in an exclusive ten-year agreement that includes organizational and promotion rights to the world championship. However, with the pandemic seriously impacting the 2021 season by preventing overseas teams from traveling to the United States, it wasn’t until this year that P1 was able to action its plans to attract more race teams and grow the series through social media and building the worldwide television audience.

Racing will kick off at Cocoa Beach on Florida’s Atlantic Coast in late May, before moving to the Gulf Coast at the end of June when the Sarasota Powerboat Grand Prix will celebrate its 38th anniversary. In August the series will head north to Indiana for the Michigan City Great Lakes Grand Prix, and a new event in the Wisconsin city of Sheboygan on the western shore of Lake Michigan will host the Mercury Racing MidWest Challenge. Featuring the top categories of U.S. powerboat racing including Class 1, the three-day festival is expected to attract more than thirty teams to race along the Sheboygan waterfront. In early September the Class 1 fleet will be back on the Gulf Coast in St. Petersburg, and P1 CEO Azam Rangoonwala is in advanced discussions to stage a season finale in Miami. “We raced in this iconic city in 2018 and returning this year with the Class 1 boats would create an outstanding climax to the 2023 championship,” Rangoonwala said.                

“As we look ahead to the 2023 season, I can confirm that both the M CON Racing Team and Sudrheim Offshore Racing will be joining the series to give us an international field of eight boats with teams representing Australia, Sweden, Norway and, of course, the United States,” said Rangoonwala. “The M CON team will compete in a fully branded Monster Energy boat. This new canopied Skater 438 catamaran is the first purpose-built Class 1 boat for more than a decade. With Sudrheim Racing flying the flag for Norway next year, we can look forward to another Scandinavian team battling for the world title.”

This season’s championship will build towards an international race calendar in 2024 with host venues in Scandinavia and the Middle East being added to the schedule. In five years’ time, the key goal in P1’s development plan is to have twelve Class 1 teams racing at ten international venues. “Our live streaming this season will be significantly enhanced by the introduction of a new timing system which will show boat positions, distances between boats, speeds and lap times as live graphics,” explained Rangoonwala. “We’re on an exciting journey and our mantra is to take UIM Class 1 back to the pinnacle of offshore racing."

UIM Class 1 World Championship – 2023 Race Calendar

Thunder on Cocoa Beach : May 18-21
Sarasota Powerboat Grand Prix : June 30 – July 2
Michigan City Great Lakes Grand Prix : Aug. 4-6*
Sheboygan - Mercury Racing MidWest Challenge : Aug. 11-13
St. Petersburg Powerboat Grand Prix : Sept. 1-3
Miami Powerboat Grand Prix*

*To be confirmed