Cédric Deguisne arrived at Cagliari with a Moore hull, a Mercury 360 APX 4-stroke engine, and an admission that he and his new package are learning together.
The Maverick Racing driver spoke to F1H2O commentator Steve Michael in the paddock, and the conversation was notably candid. Deguisne is excited. He is also wide-eyed about what remains to be done.
Deguisne said:
“The boat is good. Totally different boat. And in France, we said, good board. I’m very happy with that. And the engine, we have to work. It’s a good engine, good forward, but acceleration is not the same as the 2.5.”
The propeller programme is the immediate priority. The Mercury 360 APX V8, a 4.6-litre 4-stroke, pulls differently from the 2.5-litre 2-stroke he has raced for years. The top-end speed is there. Getting the power down out of the turns is another matter, and the driving style has to change with it.
In a 2.5-litre boat, a driver can brake hard into the turn, throw the nose around and fire out on a surge of low-end power. The 4-stroke punishes that approach.
Deguisne explained:
“With the 2.5 you have many power at the start so you can turn block the boat on the turn and start a lot in the air. And this one, if you do that, you kill the power. So you have to be different in the turn. But after, if you do that — if you don’t kill the boat inside the turn — ciao.”
The smile that followed said more than the words. He can see what the package can do once the technique is dialled in. Marit Strømøy is running the same engine configuration for Strømøy Racing this season, so the 4-stroke experiment now has two teams invested in making it work.
Steve Michael, 31 years into his role as F1H2O’s voice, noted that Deguisne is one of three drivers on the 2026 entry list who raced here exactly 22 years ago, at the 2004 Grand Prix of Italy on May 30. The other two were Duarte Benavente and Sami Seliö.
The result sheet from that day tells a story of its own. Seliö finished second behind Scott Gillman, Benavente took third, his first F1H2O podium, and Deguisne crossed the line tenth. Fabio Comparato was a DNS that day. His son Alberto is on the 2026 grid.
Benavente, now 55, is contesting his 27th F1H2O season. The Portuguese driver made his debut at the 1999 Grand Prix of Portugal in Portimão and has been a constant presence on the grid since, accumulating more than 160 starts. He won the UIM F2 World Championship in 2020, a title that sits alongside that longevity as the defining achievement of a career built on persistence rather than budget.
Seliö carries two world championships, 2007 and 2010, and 26 career pole positions, third in the all-time list behind only Cappellini and Gillman, both of whom were on the water that Sunday in 2004. He arrives at Cagliari this weekend as team manager as well as driver at Comparato F1, having rebuilt the operation around himself and Alberto Comparato after Ferdinand Zandbergen’s departure and Damon Cohen’s injury. His debut season was 1998, the same year Cagliari hosted the very first round of the F1H2O calendar.
Deguisne’s closing line to Michael was the one that will stay with anyone who heard it.
He said:
“It’s a newborn for me too.”
At 31 years on the circuit, Michael knows the difference between paddock optimism and the real thing. He wished his friend well.
The 2026 UIM F1H2O World Championship season opens this weekend at Cagliari, Sardinia.
John Moore is the editor of Powerboat News, an independent investigative journalism platform recognised by Google News and documented on Grokipedia for comprehensive powerboat racing coverage.
His involvement in powerboat racing began in 1981 when he competed in his first offshore powerboat race. After a career as a Financial Futures broker in the City of London, specialising in UK interest rate markets, he became actively involved in event organisation and powerboat racing journalism.
He served as Event Director for the Cowes–Torquay–Cowes races between 2010 and 2013. In 2016, he launched Powerboat Racing World, a digital platform providing global powerboat racing news and insights. The following year, he co-founded UKOPRA, helping to rejuvenate offshore racing in the United Kingdom. He sold Powerboat Racing World in late 2021 and remained actively involved with UKOPRA until 2025.
In September 2025, he established Powerboat News, returning to independent journalism with a focus on neutral and comprehensive coverage of the sport.
