| Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and Budva, Montenegro head a growing list of new venues and countries signing up to host a round of the prestigious WPPA Class 1 World Powerboat Championship, and make up a nine-race Calendar for 2008 which was announced by IOTA General Secretary, Marco Sala, in Dubai. “The list of countries and cities who want to become a part of Class 1 is continuing to grow, which is very encouraging,” said Sala. “At this stage we have a calendar with nine races and are holding talks with four potential new venues for 2008, but ultimately it will be the logistics of moving from venue to venue that will dictate the final calendar.” The season will open with the Qatar Grand Prix in Doha before heading to Rio de Janeiro |
at the end of April. The Class 1 fleet will then be shipped back to Europe for four races that make up the European Championship, starting in Budva, Montenegro and then heading to Arendal for the first of two races in Norway with the second in Oslo still to be finalised. Constanta-Mamaia in Romania will host the final round in Europe, with the boats then shipped to Porto Marina in Egypt and on to the United Arab Emirates for the traditional back-to-back end of season double-header in Dubai. IOTA also confirmed that they are currently in talks with Valencia (Spain), Marseilles (France), Yalta in the Ukraine and Shenzhen in China and will present the final calendar at the Düsseldorf Boat Show - ‘boot Düsseldorf’ - in January. |
