Dubai: The debut of the new Gold Coast Australia boat will highlight the start of the 2015 UIM Skydive Dubai XCAT World Powerboat Series in Fujairah this week.
Tom Tate, Gold Coast Mayor, and Paul Donovan, Chairman of the Gold Coast Tourism Corporation (GCTC), will be on hand to witness the team’s big moment in the UAE from Wednesday to Friday.
At the helm of the new boat, which will carry the No. 46 on its hull, will be the skilled and experienced Australian driver Tom Barry-Cotter and his long-time friend from Norway Pal Virik Nilsen.
The XCAT World Powerboat Series made its international debut in 2013 with just one race overseas. But this year the event boasts as many as four international stops — the first at a to-be-confirmed destination in Europe in May, followed by Cascais in Portugal in June, Gold Coast in August and then China in September.
The XCAT fleet will then head home to Dubai for the penultimate round from November 12 to 14 before making the short trip to Abu Dhabi for the finale from November 25 to 27.
The Gold Coast Australia crew will be one of four new teams for 2015, with Saracen Australia, Team Abu Dhabi and Swecat — boasting the first female XCAT driver in Veronica Olderin — also joining the fray.
Olderlin will be joined by former Class 3C World Champion Mikael Bengtsson as throttleman in the cockpit of the new Victory Team-built boat.
The team from Sweden were among the first to land in the UAE last week for a few days of testing with the Victory Team ahead of the opening race in Fujairah.
The decision to take the final round of the championship to the Abu Dhabi International Marine Sports Club is part of efforts to boost powerboat racing in the UAE capital. The move was formally endorsed by Shaikh Sultan Bin Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Adviser to the UAE President and ADIMSC President, along with Shaikh Mansour Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, President of the Dubai International Marine Club (DIMC), last week.
“Traditionally it was Dubai hosting the final round of the series but, for a change, we wanted to shift the focus on to Abu Dhabi in order to recognise the huge amount of work that they have been doing in promoting this sport throughout the world,” Dr Saif Al Ketbi, Chairman of organisers, the World Professional Powerboat Association (WPPA), told Gulf News.
“We have been in the business for only a few years and by far 2015 is the most ambitious calendar that we have planned. Things are looking up and I am sure we have a long and successful path planned out for the next few seasons so that we can spread the XCAT word around the world.”
