F1H2O has confirmed Cagliari, Sardinia as the opening round of the 2026 UIM F1H2O World Championship. The race will take place May 29-31, with the announcement coming after a prolonged period of calendar uncertainty caused in part by the continuing situation in the Middle East, which has disrupted several of the championship’s traditional venues.
Cagliari returns to the F1H2O calendar for the first time in many years. The Sardinian capital has a place in the championship’s history: it hosted the very first race of the 1998 season, the Grand Prix del Mediterraneo, in May of that year.
Cagliari, 1998: The First Time
In May 1998, twenty of the UIM World Formula 1 fleet were wheeled out for the opening Grand Prix of the season on Cagliari’s harbour. The 2.5-kilometre circuit featured eight turns, two of them right-handers. Guido Cappellini, already a four-times World Champion, set the pace in qualifying, taking pole position 0.88 seconds ahead of reigning champion Scott Gillman of Colorado.
He mastered the course in just 54.38 seconds, making it look straightforward. Pertti Leppala, runner-up in the 1997 championship and driving for the Star Racing Team, was third on the grid.
Gillman had dominated the previous season, claiming six pole positions in nine starts, and was the man everyone expected to beat. The tension at the start proved too much for him and Leppala: both jumped the lights and were docked one lap each.
Cappellini made a poor start but the Italian is not a man who panics. Within ten laps of the 40-lap race he had worked through to second place behind Gillman, and by the halfway stage Gillman still led – but by just 17.77 seconds. A yellow flag then closed the field and compressed the advantage further.
With three laps to go, Gillman’s Rainbow Belco Avia Racing boat stopped momentarily. Cappellini drove past and did not look back. The lap penalties for Gillman and Leppala meant Jonathan Jones – the former Gold Leaf pilot, racing with Castrol backing in a Seebold hull – was declared second despite crossing the line fourth on the road.
Cappellini’s team-mate Massimo Roggiero was classified seventh, having lost his left-hand mirror early in the race. Rudolf Mihaldinecz was making his F1 debut as Jones’s team-mate; electrical problems ended his afternoon in eighth.
Jones acknowledged both his fortune and the work still to be done.
Getting points on the board early is essential, however they come. We know what we’ve got to do before the next Grand Prix – the top drivers are unlikely to make the same mistake again.Jonathan Jones
He was blunt about his Seebold’s handling.
The boat did not handle at all well, the balance was all wrong but we know how to fix it.Jonathan Jones
Roggiero, who had struggled through qualifying before losing his mirror in the race, kept his perspective.
Seventh place is all right bearing in mind we had a lot of problems in qualifying. Then after five laps I lost my left-hand mirror, which made it very dangerous in the turns.Massimo Roggiero
Cappellini was jubilant and made clear the championship context.
That’s the best way to start my ’98 campaign. Now Gillman knows he will have to work very hard this year.Guido Cappellini
Grand Prix del Mediterraneo – Final Classification
Cagliari, Sardinia – May 9/10, 1998
| Pos | Boat | Driver | Laps | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 18 | Guido Cappellini | 38 | 20 |
| 2 | 7 | Jonathan Jones | 37 | 15 |
| 3 | 1 | Scott Gillman | 37 | 12 |
| 4 | 10 | Pertti Leppala | 37 | 9 |
| 5 | 2 | Fabrizio Bocca | 37 | 7 |
| 6 | 21 | Andy Elliott | 36 | 5 |
| 7 | 16 | Massimo Roggiero | 36 | 4 |
| 8 | 6 | Cipriano Lambri | 35 | 3 |
| 9 | 9 | Javier Amtmann | 34 | 2 |
| 10 | 23 | Andrey Berenitsine | 34 | 1 |
| 11 | 11 | Frode Sundsdal | 33 | 0 |
| 12 | 12 | Franco Leidi | 33 | 0 |
| 13 | 20 | Frank Revert | 31 | 0 |
Original article and photographs: Chris Davies. Sources: Castrol Powerboat Racing, Issue 36, June 1998.
Cagliari, Sardinia – May 29-31, 2026
If it happened in powerboat racing during the last forty years the chances are that Chris Davies was there either photographing it or writing about it.
During that time, he has travelled the globe covering both offshore and circuit racing for series promotors, race teams, PR companies, and a whole raft of publications.
