Edgaras Riabko leads the 2026 UIM F2 World Championship by two points over Peter Morin heading into San Nazzaro, round three of the season, on 28-30 August. Both men race DAC hulls, and at this venue that could matter more than it does anywhere else on the calendar.
DAC has taken pole position at every UIM F2 World Championship round held there since the venue joined the calendar in 2023. Three rounds, three poles. Nobody else has managed it once.
Some of that traces back to the water itself. Guido Cappellini, DAC’s founder and a ten-time F1H2O world champion, has tested his boats on this stretch of the River Po for years, and Team Abu Dhabi picked San Nazzaro for its European pre-season programme specifically to borrow that local knowledge before it counted for points.
San Nazzaro Qualifying, Three Years On Record
| Year | Entrants | Pole | Time | Hull |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 17 | Rashed Al Qemzi | 42.070s | DAC |
| 2024 | 20 | Rashed Al Qemzi | 43.924s | DAC |
| 2025 | 22 | Giacomo Sacchi | 44.556s | DAC |
Course length at San Nazzaro varies slightly year to year as the buoys are repositioned, so times are not a direct comparison across seasons. The pattern around them is the point.
Pole has converted straight into a win both times the race has actually finished. Rashed Al Qemzi took pole in 2023 with a 42.070-second lap, then won it. In 2024 he did it again, 43.924 seconds this time, and won again. Neither year did he top free practice; the pace showed up specifically in the Q3 shootout, when the grid was actually being decided.
He was in a DAC on both occasions.
2025 never got the chance to make it three from three. Sacchi took pole at 44.556 seconds, again in a DAC, but Sunday’s race was called off after floating logs made the Po too dangerous to run. No points were awarded.
The DAC advantage isn’t limited to whoever ends up on top. Four of the five fastest qualifiers in 2023 were on DAC hulls, Al Qemzi, Giacomo Sacchi, Daniel Segenmark and Riabko in fifth. Tobias Munthe-Kaas was the outlier in second, on a BaBa, though he’s since switched to a DAC himself for 2026.
The following year told almost the same story. Al Qemzi, Mansoor Al Mansoori, Matthew Palfreyman and Riabko again filled four of the top five, all on DAC power. Mathilda Wiberg was the exception, third fastest using a Molgaard.
2025’s grid, the largest of the three at 22 entrants, followed suit. Sacchi and Al Qemzi took the top two spots on DAC hulls, Palfreyman third. The only driver to reach that group with something else was Hilmer Wiberg, fourth in a Molgaard.
Three years of qualifying, and Molgaard is the only hull that has ever cracked the front of a San Nazzaro grid alongside DAC. Both times it was a Wiberg driving it.
Which brings it back to Riabko and Morin. Two points apart, both in DAC boats, heading to the one venue on the calendar where that hull has never failed to find the front row.
Qualifying runs on Saturday 29 August, with Sunday’s Grand Prix of Italy on 30 August. If San Nazzaro’s history means anything at all, Saturday afternoon may end up doing more to going some way to settle this title fight than Sunday’s race.
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.
