2026 UIM F2 World Championship: Driver Guide

Mathilda Wiberg made history at Vila Velha de Rodao in September 2025, becoming the first woman to win a Formula-class world championship in powerboat racing. Her season was one of the great F2 comebacks: two points from the opening round at Brindisi left her seemingly out of contention, before she surged back with a dominant 20-point haul in Klaipeda and 12 more in Peso da Regua.

She entered the finale at Vila Velha five points behind brother Hilmer. He retired on lap 25 with a technical failure; pole-sitter Peter Morin lost his engine to a blown fuse worth under one euro. Mathilda won by 1.968 seconds over Edgaras Riabko, finishing the season 15 points clear.

Smedjebacken municipality awarded her the prestationsmedalj achievement medal and she was named UIM Driver of the Year for 2025. She goes to Klaipeda in 2026 as defending champion, carrying #1.

Johan Österberg is one of the most experienced drivers in UIM F2, with a career stretching back to 1986 and F2 competition since 2002. The Swede came closest to the world title in 2011 and 2012, finishing runner-up in both seasons. He holds five world speed records and is a two-time T400 European Champion.

He races a Molgaard hull with Team AJO and brings three decades of accumulated circuit knowledge to every round. In the 2025 Vila Velha finale he was involved in an accident that ended his race early. At 50, he remains one of the most tenacious competitors on the F2 grid.

Owen Jelf has been racing powerboats since 1979 and in F2 since 1993, making him one of the longest-serving competitors in the championship’s history. The 1986 F4 World Champion also raced in F1H2O from 1994 to 1998. He returned to F2 in 1999 and has been a consistent front-runner ever since, finishing second in the world championship in 2004 and third in 2008.

He won the 2020 Grand Prix of Portugal I at Vila Velha de Rodao, beating Benavente by 2.128 seconds. His brother Colin has also raced in F2. He joins the 2026 season from Round 2 at Brindisi, racing a BaBa hull for his own team.

Jarno Vilmunen (known as “Jape”) began racing at age 12 in the SJ-15 junior class and dominated GT30 in Finland from 2014 to 2018 before progressing to F4. His 2023 F4 season was exceptional: he swept the World, European, Finnish and Nordic championships in the same year, the same four-title clean sweep Andre Solvang achieved in a different year. He and Solvang were direct rivals in F4.

He debuted in F2 in 2024, finishing third in his first Grand Prix race. In 2025 he finished 4th at the F2 European Championship in Kaunas, taking overall pole position and showing strong pace throughout before a DNR and a racing incident with Dainis Podzuks affected his final result.

He runs his own company, Vilmunen Powerboat Racing, registered in 2021, and operates the Motor Mix Racing Team setup himself out of Nummela. He is one of the most promising young talents on the 2026 F2 grid.

Dainis Podzuks has one of the most compelling backstories on the 2026 F2 grid. He raced from 2004, won the SN350 Latvian Championship, then stepped away from competition for approximately 15 years before returning in 2021 to pursue his long-held F2 ambition. He was invited back by fellow Latvian Nikita Lijcs for an F4 Latvian Championship round in Aluksne, finished on the podium, and never looked back.

At the 2025 F2 European Championship in Kaunas he qualified 5th and ran 3rd in Heat 1, before colliding with Jarno Vilmunen on the opening lap of Heat 2. His boat was severely damaged and he did not start again that weekend. He had his best F2 result at Telsiai, where he finished 2nd. His radio man is Ugis Gross, a former F2 European Champion with F1H2O experience alongside Guido Cappellini.

He runs his own boat service business, DP Boat Servis, in Jurmala, which supports his racing operation. On his approach to the sport: “Only stupid people are not afraid.”

Mette Bjerknæs is Norwegian-born and now based in Cheltenham, racing under a British licence. Her racing roots run deep: her father Morten competed in F1 powerboats and her mother Lene raced V-25. She co-founded JRM Racing with her partner Jamey Stallard, who manages the team. She is also a qualified teacher and entrepreneur with degrees in Marketing, Economics, Entrepreneurship and Travel Business.

In 2014 she became the only female Class S2 World Champion with Navikart Racing, winning in Poland and taking second in Rouen. Her goals are clear: Formula 1.

At the 2025 Vila Velha finale she charged from 13th on the grid to 7th, posting the fastest lap of her race (49.921s) and closing to within three seconds of Matt Palfreyman in the final laps.

Peter Morin is one of the most versatile and accomplished powerboat racers of his generation. In 2026 he races both F2 with Team RPM and F1H2O with China CTIC alongside Brent Dillard, making him one of very few drivers competing at both circuit world championship levels simultaneously. He also won the 2026 UIM S3 World Endurance title at Poses in May alongside brother Nelson and Thomas Cleret.

His 2025 F2 season ended with one of the sport’s cruellest moments. Starting from pole at Vila Velha with the championship mathematically alive, his engine failed due to a blown fuse worth under one euro. Mathilda Wiberg won the title; Morin was classified DNF and finished fourth in the standings with 32 points.

Team RPM principal Alessandro Canzi confirmed his return without hesitation: “He is part of the RPM family and so there was never any doubt about his driving seat.”

Ian Blacker is a 55-year-old team owner turned full-time driver, one of the more unusual stories on the 2026 grid. He built the Kingfisher Fire & Security Racing Team from a Farnham-based offshore outfit into a competitive F2 circuit squad, managing Matthew Palfreyman to a race win at Brindisi and 6th in the 2025 world championship before Palfreyman retired. For 2026, Blacker stepped into the cockpit himself.

He won the 2025 CPA British F2 championship at Stewartby, winning all four heats after qualifying second. His 2026 entry is technically notable: he runs a DAC hull with the Mercury Racing 250 APX four-stroke, one of only two APX runners on the grid alongside Solvang.

His offshore background includes the Kingfisher CPR catamaran at Coniston Records Week, where he set a 108.63 mph Class 3S mark in 2010.

Andre Solvang stepped up from a dominant F4 career to UIM F2 with Sharjah Team in 2025, running the Mercury Racing 250 APX four-stroke while most rivals stayed with the two-stroke Optimax. The Sharjah Marine hull, built by Claudio and the first F2 boat equipped with the HALO safety system, was designed around the heavier engine. He qualified third and finished fourth on his F2 debut at Brindisi, then scored points in Klaipeda. An overnight engine repair at Vila Velha – a broken mid-section part sourced from an Optimax spare – saw him start from the back and still finish in the points.

Away from racing, Solvang is a qualified ship’s officer, working on cruise ships carrying up to 2,300 passengers. His employer accommodates his race schedule. His father Morten is his main supporter and has been instrumental throughout his career.

He also raced in the UIM E1 World Championship at Lagos in 2025, standing in for Rusty Wyatt at Team AlUla (LeBron James’s E1 team). He qualified second in his group and finished third from fifth on the grid in his first race.

Duarte Benavente is one of the most decorated drivers in UIM F2 history, a two-time world champion who has been competing since 1989. The Portuguese driver won his F2 world titles in 2019 and 2020, both with the Atlantic Team on home soil at Vila Velha de Rodao. His 2020 title came with a dominant pole-to-flag victory in the finale, 26.609 seconds clear of Riabko.

His career spans multiple classes: eight Portuguese S850/F4 titles, four Iberian titles, the 2001 S850/F4 World Championship and 1998 European title. He has also run the F4S World Championship for other drivers, including a young Sam Whittle in 2018.

In 2026 he is also racing in UIM F1H2O with Atlantic Team alongside Ben Jelf, making him one of the very few drivers competing at both world championship circuit levels simultaneously.

Nelson Morin is the younger brother of Peter Morin, and together they form the most successful powerboat endurance partnership in recent French racing history. They have raced together since the mid-2000s, winning the UIM S3 World Endurance Championship together multiple times including in 2026 at Poses in Normandy alongside Thomas Cleret, winning Race 1 and Race 3.

Nelson is the endurance specialist of the two, with eight S3 world titles and six Rouen 24-hour victories. He is also a three-time French F2 Sprint Champion. At Klaipeda they line up on opposite sides of the paddock for the first time, racing against each other in the world championship.

His team is listed as Touax Gulf Racing for 2026 F2, reflecting the endurance team branding he and Peter carry from their Poses campaign.

Nils Slakteris is the most intriguing newcomer on the 2026 F2 grid. The reigning F4 World Champion steps up having never raced an F2 boat, following the established UIM ladder from GT15 through F4 to the senior class. He clinched his F4 title at Viverone in September 2025 in one of the most dramatic championship finales of the year, sweeping from seventh on the grid to pass title rival Jean Baptiste-Thomas of France when the Frenchman lost pace in choppy conditions.

He arrives at Klaipeda for his F2 debut at a circuit he knows well from his F4 seasons, which should ease the transition. He carries the same race number, #51, into the senior class and races for RIGA Powerboat Racing, the team he has been with throughout his career.

He told PBN after his title win: “At the start I didn’t think I’d be standing here as World Champion. Starting in seventh, I just had to wait and see if there was an opportunity. When Baptiste slowed, I thought, ‘it’s now or never’, and I made the move.”

Edgaras Riabko is the most decorated active Lithuanian driver in UIM F2, a two-time European champion whose career stretches back to 1994. He goes to Klaipeda for 2026 with a new-look DAC in deep navy blue, unveiled at a ceremony outside the Lithuanian Government building in Vilnius on May 28, attended by Prime Minister Inga Ruginiené, the official patron of the Klaipeda round.

Vila Velha de Rodao has been his most consistent hunting ground: four consecutive podiums from 2020 to 2024, including victory in 2022. He finished third in the 2025 championship with 33 points, taking second in the finale behind Mathilda Wiberg. His propellers throughout his career have been made by Romualdas Kundrotas, the 91-year-old craftsman from Alytus regarded as Lithuania’s last racing propeller maker.

Off the water, Riabko organises the Klaipeda and Kaunas rounds of the UIM championship and runs a youth development programme. At Klaipeda in 2026, he races as the home favourite in front of his own crowd.

Hilmer Wiberg delivered one of the most remarkable F2 debuts in recent memory in 2025. Entering the Vila Velha finale leading the world championship, he retired on lap 25 with a rod through the engine block, handing his sister Mathilda the title. He finished the season with 39 points and the UIM Silver Medal, 15 points behind Mathilda.

His championship record across GT15, GT30 and Offshore is extraordinary for his age: three world titles, multiple European and Nordic crowns, and 14 medals before stepping into F2. He had no practice in an F2 boat before his debut in Kaunas, where he finished third in the European Championship.

He told PBN after the season finale: “I am really proud of my sister, she deserves the win. It was really a great season and I hope to make the next one even better.” Father Andreas manages both siblings, with a strict no team orders policy.

Giacomo Sacchi is the grandson of Tullio Abbate, the legendary Italian boat builder whose clients included Ayrton Senna, Gilles Villeneuve and Bernie Ecclestone. That heritage runs through everything he does: he works in Monaco at Champion Marine, the family company founded by Jacky Ickx and Abbate in 1986, now run by his parents. He joined the business in 2022.

On the water, Sacchi is one of the most consistent front-runners in the championship. He won the 2022 Italian F2 title and took victory at the Portuguese Grand Prix I that year from pole. He finished 5th in the 2025 championship with 28 points, his fourth top-five world championship result in six seasons.

His stated ambition is to win more F2 races and then move to F1H2O. He also raced in E1 at Lagos in 2025 for Team Miami, finishing ahead of Andre Solvang in the Place Race Final.

Tobias Munthe-Kaas is a highly decorated Norwegian driver who has competed across multiple classes since 2001. A 2019 F2 European Champion and 2018 Norwegian F2 Champion, he races for Stromoy Racing F2, the team connected to Marit Stromoy’s F1H2O operation. He holds the Norwegian Offshore 3B speed record and the 2010 F4s World Speed Record.

In the 2025 Vila Velha finale he ran the Mercury Racing 250 APX, one of three APX runners in the field that day alongside Solvang and Blacker. He finished 15th after six laps, classified but out of points. He goes to Klaipeda looking to build on several strong mid-field world championship results including 6th in 2022 and 8th in 2021.

Roope Virtanen is a highly experienced Finnish driver who came through the GT30 and F4 ranks before stepping up to F2. He runs his own team, Virtanen Racing, with a DAC hull and Mercury OptiMax. He was reinstated to 7th in the 2025 Grand Prix of Portugal I after a successful appeal against disqualification under Rule 303.01.

A consistent midfield presence in F2, Virtanen brings significant experience of the Klaipeda circuit from previous seasons.