Wednesday, January 15th -The major talking point over the Christmas and New Year holiday period was the breaking news released on New Year’s Eve that three-time World Champion Shaun Torrente would be returning to the UIM F1H2O World Championship in 2025.
The straight-talking American took a year out in 2024 after a disappointing 2023 season that ended with a minor injury after a spectacular coming together with the Victory Team’s Ahmad Al-Fahim at the final round in Sharjah.
“It’s time to finish what we started in 2015,” said a determined Torrente in a break from testing in the UAE on Thursday. “I believe when you do things for the right reasons, we end up where we are supposed to be.
“I’m just super-excited to be back here coming back with all the guys who I started out with in the Victory Team. It’s a great opportunity to finish what we started and to get the World Championship that they have been working for. I hope I’m the last piece of the puzzle. That’s really what I am hoping. We are going to work hard, like crazy. After a couple of days of testing, I’m very excited because the potential is there, for sure. The package they have is very good. I am looking forward to it.”
The Florida-based 46-year-old joined the F1H2O racing scene way back in 2007 after over 15 years of racing Stateside in SST-45, SST-120 and US Champ series events. He made his way through the ranks after a modest start that saw him finish pointless and equal 26th in the Drivers’ Championship in 2007 and then 11th for the following two seasons.
A switch to the Qatar Team saw a rapid-fire change in Torrente’s fortunes and the Fort Myers racer finished as runner-up in the Drivers’ Championship to his then team-mate Alex Carella in 2013. He then finished third in 2014 and earned victory on Doha Bay for a second successive season. The Qatar Team disbanded after the American had taken a third successive win in Doha at the start of the 2015 campaign and so began a near three-year association with the Dubai-based Victory Team that netted third in the 2015 Drivers’ Championship and the runner-up spot with a Moore boat the following year.
Three retirements followed during a mixed 2017 season and then Torrente joined Team Abu Dhabi for the start of what would be several seasons of success before his departure at the end of 2023. World titles followed in 2018, 2019 and 2022 with the American locking horns with the likes of Jonas Andersson, Erik Stark and his team-mate Thani Al-Qamzi.
Torrente has taken 11 Grand Prix wins and 11 pole positions from 65 race starts in his career so far. His last win came at San Nazzaro back in 2022 and he hasn’t been on pole since his ill-fated Grand Prix of France in Mâcon in the summer of 2023.
Shaun will be out to wipe those statistics off the record books when action resumes this season, but the sport has also developed in his absence over the last 14 months. A young Canadian driver called Rusty Wyatt burst on to the scene and very nearly conquered Andersson at his first attempt and every team has raised its game since the start of last year. Torrente will no longer be able to single out individual drivers as his rivals with several teams now capable of running for podium finishes.
Besides, Torrente’s former Team Abu Dhabi colleague Stark ran him close to the world title in 2018 and the pair have now switched teams. Stark showed during his last few Grand Prix with the Victory Team in 2024 that he had the pace to win races and he managed to finish third in the Drivers’ Championship behind Andersson and Wyatt. Reverting to Team Abu Dhabi offers new challenges for the Swede, but Torrente heads into his second coming with the Victory Team knowing full well that it may well be his greatest challenge if he is to secure a fourth World Championship title at the end of 2025.
