Friday, January 12: The China CTIC Team, the F1 Atlantic Team, Strømøy Racing F1H2O Team and Comparato F1 have announced unchanged driver line-ups for the 2024 UIM F1H2O World Championship that gets underway with the Grand Prix of Lake Toba-Indonesia on February 23rd-25th.
With equipment now in situ in Sumatra after the last round of the 2023 championship in Sharjah, teams and officials are piecing together the logistics of a season that will see spectacular racing in Vietnam and Albania for the first time, a summer trip to Italy, two visits to China in September and a return to the Middle East for the finale in Sharjah.
Team manager Eric Chan has confirmed that Frenchman Peter Morin and American Brent Dillard will represent the China CTIC Team again. Multiple former World Champion Philippe Chiappe will act as radioman and the reserve driver for the Mercury-engined Moore boats. Morin is now a veteran of 32 race starts and finished third in last year’s Drivers’ Championship, while Dillard was 10th and enjoyed two sixth-place finishes in Indonesia and France.
Portuguese veteran Duarte Benavente again teams up with England’s Ben Jelf in the two F1 Atlantic Team boats, while the Strømøy Racing F1H2O Team has confirmed that Norway’s Marit Strømøy and Polish team-mate Bartek Marszalek – the winner of last year’s inaugural race in Indonesia – will crew the two race boats. Strømøy will continue the development of Mercury’s four-stroke V8 360 APX engine. Her best result with the new power plant came with sixth place at the Road to Sharjah-Grand Prix of Sharjah in December.
Australian Brock Cohen again teams up with Alberto Comparato in Comparato F1, although the young Italian will race under the flag of Monaco this season for the first time. The duo were 11th and 15th in last year’s Drivers’ Championship with a fourth place in Olbia the best result for Comparato on home waters.
Details about other teams, drivers and potential changes will be announced in due course.
