Class 1;

Powerboat P1 is the fastest growing marine motorsport series in the world and has a long term commitment to growing and developing the sport of power boating at all levels. The Powerboat P1 team works closely with the sport�s governing bodies, the UIM, APBA and the IJSBA. P1 has delivered more than 85 world championship events in over twelve different countries for more than a decade.

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  • Address: 2320 Clark Street, Suite A1
    Apopka, FL 32703
    United States
  • Phone: +1 407 985 1938
  • Email: info@powerboatp1.com

Next Race

Fri Nov 03 2023

222 Offshore Take Class 1 World TItle

This year’s UIM Class 1 World Championship showcased the sport at its absolute best, with 222 Offshore’s Darren Nicholson and Giovanni Carpitella delivering a near faultless, season-long campaign to win the title and the Sam Griffith Trophy, the most coveted prize in world powerboat racing.

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Having absolute faith in Giovanni is a rare gift that I really appreciate when driving a Class 1 boat and cornering at 150mph – it’s not for the meek! Because I came to powerboat racing quite late in life, I figured I definitely needed a red-hot crew to make up for my inexperience, or otherwise, I’d never achieve anything. Winning my first Class 1 world title is pretty cool.

2023 saw promoter Powerboat P1 marking 20 years of international racing and Mercury Racing celebrating its 50th anniversary. The championship was fought out over six races at five events, with the mid-term schedule of back-to-back race weekends and three races in a week on Lake Michigan always likely to be pivotal to the outcome – and so it proved.

Defending champions Steve Curtis and Brit Lilly in Huski Ice Spritz and last year’s runners-up Nicholson and Carpitella, both running Victory hulls, headlined the 2023 line up and continued where they left off, trading wins and podiums in the opening three rounds with 222 Offshore dominating qualifying. But the title race turned in round 4 at Sheboygan with Curtis and Lilly’s challenge imploding and Nicholson and Carpitella continuing their rich vein of form, winning race 1 and taking second in race 2 to seal the title. They then rounded out their year with a fourth win in the season finale in St. Petersburg at the beginning of September.

dfYOUNG’s Rich Wyatt and Hugh Fuller lined up for their first full Class 1 season in a striking 50-foot Mystic. New boys Tyler Miller and Myrick Coil of Monster Energy/M CON Racing, the reigning Super Cat champions, launched their first Class 1 season with a brand new Skater, and what an impressive debut season it turned into. Two-time Class 1 world champion Johnny Tomlinson and Carlos de Quesada built on their success in Key West last year, to team up in Pothole Heroes and finish fifth.

A mid-season crew change for XINSURANCE saw Grant Bruggemann and the team’s former manager Randy Kent drafted in to take over race duties, but it proved to be a disappointing season. It was also a tough campaign for Team Defalco despite a solid start in Cocoa Beach with Mike Falco and Chris Hanley finishing fourth in their Outerlimits, and Billy Moore then replacing Hanley.

Nicholson and Carpitella proved to be the class act in an outstanding championship campaign against world-class opposition in a season that has seen three different race winners, six teams and four manufacturers on the podium as the World Championship gathers even greater pace and goes from strength to strength. Team owner-driver Darren Nicholson, the first Australian to win the Class 1 title, heaped praise on his Italian throttleman and race team: “Having absolute faith in Giovanni is a rare gift that I really appreciate when driving a Class 1 boat and cornering at 150mph – it’s not for the meek! Because I came to powerboat racing quite late in life, I figured I definitely needed a red-hot crew to make up for my inexperience, or otherwise, I’d never achieve anything. Winning my first Class 1 world title is pretty cool.”

222 Offshore Team Info News Stories Mentioning 222 Offshore Darren Nicholson Bio Giovanni Carpitella Bio

Photo Credits

Ronny Mac © ronnymac.com
David Lando © David Lando Instagram

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