The 2009 Class 1 World Powerboat Championship will see the return to the series of both the Italian and Spanish Grands Prix as part of an eight-race calendar that will get underway in Qatar, organisers announced Saturday.
Speaking at the Emirates & Dubai Duty Free Grand Prix being held at Mina Seyahi in Dubai - the final round of the 2008 campaign - Marco Sala, General Secretary of the International Offshore Teams Association (IOTA), said the series would get underway with the Qatar Grand Prix on April 25 before moving on to Egypt, Spain, Russia, Norway, Romania and Italy before the final two final rounds in Dubai. A date in September has also been scheduled for Ukraine, although this has yet to be confirmed. While ten events have been included in the schedule, only eight races will be in the final calendar.
"We are delighted to have signed three contracts today," said Sala. "As well as Italy and Spain, we can confirm that the first race of the 2010 season will se us compete in China. We also expect to see twelve boats compete in 2009, a figure up on this year with teams bringing better boats, improved packages and tighter competition."
While two dates for December 2009 were announced for Dubai - the traditional end of season host since 1992 - uncertainty still remains around the role of the Mina Seyahi venue following an earlier announcement by Mina Seyahi CEO Saeed Hareb that the Class 1 series would not be welcome in the emirates as long as it was affiliated to the UIM. However, Hareb was prominent at the announcement - made in the company of IOTA President Sheikh Hassan bin Jabor Al Thani - and appeared confident that Dubai would play its customary role in the championship.
"We have been the hosts for the final round since 1992 and the UAE has always played a major role in the support of this championship thanks to our team work and organisation," he said. "You can see from the action on the water, that the UAE and Qatar are strong powers in the sport and it is my wish that we continue with Class 1 as much as we can."
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