Powerboat P1, promoter of the UIM Class 1 World Powerboat Championship, has confirmed that defending Class 1 World Champion Travis Pastrana will team-up with two-time UIM and defending RWO World Champion Johnny Tomlinson for the second round of this year’s campaign in Sarasota June 30 to July 2.

The news throws up the exciting prospect of a quartet of world champions in similar Victory hulls going head-to-head in round 2, with the additional intrigue of wheelman Pastrana taking on his childhood friend Brit Lilly, the man whose seat he stepped into after the opening race of 2022.

Pastrana, a world-renowned stunt performer and extreme sports legend impressed on his UIM debut season, winning twice, and picking up two further podiums alongside Steve Curtis to clinch the title. He is relishing the prospect of the upcoming head-to-head and replacing owner-driver Carlos de Quesada to partner racing legend Tomlinson in Pothole Heroes. “Carlos has motor racing commitments to fulfil in Le Mans that weekend, so I decided to skip the racing I had planned, not only to jump at the chance to get back into a Class 1 and go up against my teammates from last year, Steve and my good friend Brit, but to race alongside the great Johnny Tomlinson,” he said. “Steve and Brit did great to take the win in Cocoa Beach last weekend, but I am looking forward to pushing them as hard as I can and showing them who’s boss in Sarasota.”

Lilly and Curtis completed the Cocoa Beach double last time out after a sensational last gasp win, passing an ailing and slowing 222 Offshore in the closing stages of the race to successfully kick-start their title defence in Huski Ice Spritz. “It’s going to be something special that’s for sure,” said multiple world champion Curtis. “We are all good friends and have a lot of respect for each other, but on the water we are all supercompetitive and will be giving it 110 percent.”

In addition to the prospect of the quartet of champions going head-to-head in Sarasota, round 2 will see the return to the championship battleground of XINSURANCE/Good Boy Vodka’s Alex Pratt and Miles Jennings and the UIM Class 1 debut of Norwegian team Sudrheim Racing with owner-driver Ove Troen alongside highly experienced throttleman Pal Virik Nilsen.

For more information on the UIM Class 1 World Championship please visit www.class1world.com

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