This weekend (24/25 September) Stewartby Powerboat Racing club will become the stage for the 2016 UIM F2, F4 and GT15 European championships as Powerboat GP host a weekend of high octane boating. Top Powerboat racers from 10 nations across Europe will make the journey to the Bedfordshire village of Stewartby to battle for 3 European Championship crowns over the two day competition.
Amongst the contenders will be some of Britain’s home grown powerboat racers looking to stop some of the World’s best powerboat contenders in their bid to become Kings or Queen of Europe.
Around 20 junior racers between the ages of 10 and 16 will compete for the UIM European GT15 Crown. The GT15 fleet will be a World class affair with competitors expected from Britain, Sweden and Latvia there will be a very strong British contingent. Hoping to lead the way will be the 2016 British Sprint Champion Thomas Mantripp and last year’s European runner up Jonathan Brewer, a formidable duo here in the UK both will be expecting strong competition from their European peers. Estonia’s Stefan Arand the current World Champion so far seems absent from the pre event entries but Sweden’s Adam Wenkler who placed fourth at the Worlds will be present and will looking to claim a European Podium finish and will put in a strong fight for the European Crown.
8 Nations will be present for the battle for the F4 European crown, with contenders travelling from France, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Russia, Latvia and Germany not to mention Britain’s finest F4 racers. A fierce competition is already expected between World Champion Finnish Matti Juho-Manninen and Latvia’s Nikita Lijcs who have battled throughout the season for the World Championship crown with little separating the duo. Nikita will be looking to stop Matti from doing the double World and European crown but also looking to prove themselves will be British Drivers Sam Whittle, Ben Morse, Ben Jelf and Rob Veares who have all been absent from the international World circuit during 2016 but along with Leon King who will all be flying the Union Flag with pride as they aim for European glory.
The big battle will be in the F2 European Championship with over 30 competitors having competed over the season for the F2 World Championship crown and a plethora of home grown British talent capable of taking the European crown on home water. The racing will be edge of your seat action. Britain’s Matthew Palfreyman currently sits in 4th in the World Championship and will be looking to use his knowledge of the conditions at Stewartby to his full advantage especially as joint World Championship leaders of Sweden’s Erik Edin and Pierre Lundin have yet to submit their European entries to the mix.
Palfreyman who’s so far had a disastrous season he will be looking to make amends for will face stiff competition from 9 other nationalities including home talent of Owen Jelf, British Sprint Champion Paul Balfour and reigning British Champion Steve Hoult. Meanwhile Austria’s Rupert Temper will be aiming for glory. The competition throughout all the classes will be World class and the action intense as the course and conditions at Stewartby can really test the driver’s skills and capabilities. For spectators it will be up-close fast and furious from the moment the lights go out until the chequered flag is raised. The European Championship classes will compete over 4 heats with the best 3 results counting to the weekend’s results.
Powerboat GP’s Jason Brewer Commented “We are extremely proud to host an event of this magnitude in the UK. All of the Powerboat GP staff have worked very hard to make this event happen and we are looking forward the challenge ahead”.
RYA Powerboat Racing Manager Jeni Jelf is looking forward to welcoming the foreign competitors to the UK for the European Championships “We have some World class home grown talent here in the UK that don’t always have the funding or time off from jobs to compete in the international powerboat scene. It will be a great opportunity for our competitors and the sport here in the UK to have these three European Championships battled for at Stewartby.”
She continued “The action will be fast and furious and at the end of the weekend three European champions will be crowned we have strong contenders in each of the three classes and hopefully we can secure some medals.”
Tickets are available from : European Championships 2016 or search powerboatgp on skiddle.com