A new powerboat endurance race in Normandy has been confirmed as a round of the UIM Endurance S3 World Championship, with the 24 Heures Motonautiques de Normandie set to run at Poses in the Eure from May 1-3, 2026.
The event is organised by Rouen Inshore Racing, a Norman powerboat club that has run circuit events at Poses since the sport’s exile from Rouen began. The 24 Heures Motonautiques de Rouen was organised by the separate Rouen Yacht Club until Rouen city council banned the race in August 2022, citing environmental grounds, and attempts to revive it have since become entangled in French municipal politics. The new event carries a new name and a new venue, 30 kilometres upstream on the same river, with Rouen Inshore Racing stepping in as organiser.
The UIM calendar lists the Poses event under Circuit / Formula World Championship, Endurance S3 class, giving it confirmed world championship status from its opening edition. That is a different level of sanction to anything previously staged at Poses, where Rouen Inshore Racing has run domestic circuit events since the Rouen ban.
Three days, 24 hours, day and night
The format across the three days totals 24 hours of racing, split into sessions of 12 hours, 7 hours and 5 hours. The race runs day and night. Organisers have stated 15 international teams are entered. Mercury 4-stroke outboards are the specified engine, with Mercury Racing named as a co-organiser alongside Rouen Inshore Racing and the Fédération Française Motonautique. The event is free to attend, with a partner village and public access throughout the weekend.
Mercury’s association with endurance racing at Rouen ran for decades. The manufacturer powered more overall winners at the 24 Heures de Rouen than any other engine builder, and provided real-time internet coverage of the race from as early as 1999. Its decision to attach its name to the new event at Poses as co-organiser reinforces that the 24 Heures Motonautiques de Normandie is being positioned as a serious successor rather than a stopgap.
S3 and the UIM framework
The Endurance S3 class shares governance with F4 under COMINSPORT, the UIM’s competent body for circuit endurance and formula racing. S3 and F4 have run as a double-header at recent world championship events, though only S3 appears on the UIM calendar entry for Poses at this stage.
A new venue on a familiar river
Poses sits on a narrower stretch of the Seine than Rouen’s Île Lacroix course, set against chalk cliffs rather than the city’s historic quaysides. The venue hosted the displaced Rouen community from its first Poses outing in 2023, when local officials described it as compensating, in part, for four years without the Rouen race. That context has shifted: Poses is no longer a substitute for a race that might return. It is now the 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.
