The provisional entry list for the opening round of the 2026 UIM F2 World Championship has been published on the UIM website, dated 15 May 2026, and it confirms significant changes to the field ahead of the Grand Prix of Lithuania at Klaipėda on 5-7 June.
Sixteen drivers are entered for Round 1 – down from 23 at the same venue in 2025. The most significant absentee is Team Abu Dhabi, the operation behind five-time world champion Rashed Al Qemzi. Al Qemzi won the title in 2017, 2019, 2021, 2023 and 2024 before Mathilda Wiberg ended that run last year. The team has not entered the 2026 season.
Blacker takes the wheel
The entry that will draw most attention in the paddock is #14, assigned to Ian Blacker of the UK. Blacker is the team owner and manager of the squad that ran Matthew Palfreyman to sixth in the 2025 championship, including a race victory at Brindisi. Palfreyman has retired from racing. Blacker steps into the cockpit himself for the 2026 season.
Blacker will campaign the Mercury Racing 360 APX four-stroke engine, paired with a DAC hull. The combination represents a significant technical statement in a class that has run the Mercury Racing 2.5-litre two-stroke OptiMax as its standard engine for years.
The Wibergs
Defending champion Mathilda Wiberg carries the #1 as she bids to retain the title she claimed in historic fashion in 2025, becoming the first woman to win the F2 World Championship. Her brother Hilmer Wiberg lines up alongside her at #70. Hilmer finished runner-up in 2025 with 39 points, 15 behind his sister. The Swedish siblings finished first and second in the championship, and they go to Klaipėda as the clear favourites to lead the standings after Round 1.
2025 Final Standings (top five):
1. Mathilda Wiberg (SWE) – 54 pts
2. Hilmer Wiberg (SWE) – 39 pts
3. Edgaras Riabko (LTU) – 33 pts
4. Peter Morin (FRA) – 32 pts
5. Giacomo Sacchi (MON) – 28 pts
Slakteris steps up
The most intriguing step-up on the entry list is Nils Slakteris of Latvia at #51. Slakteris is the reigning UIM F4 World Champion, having won the title at Lake Viverone last September in a finale that went down to the last race of the season. Starting from seventh on the grid, he seized his moment when title rival Jean Baptiste-Thomas of France lost pace in choppy conditions and swept past him to take the title by two points – 65 to 63.
It was not Slakteris’s first major title. He won the UIM GT15 European Championship in 2020, racing for the RIGA Powerboat Racing Team throughout his career. The progression from GT15 to F4 to F2 is the established UIM ladder, and Slakteris arrives at Klaipėda for his F2 debut at a venue he already knows from his F4 seasons. He carries the same race number – #51 – into the senior class.
Read our full report from Slakteris’s championship-winning ride at Viverone.
The Morins: brothers, teammates, rivals
Peter Morin (#11) and Nelson Morin (#33) are brothers – Peter the older by about four years – and one of the most decorated partnerships in European powerboat endurance racing. They have raced together since the mid-2000s, winning the UIM Endurance Class 3 World Championship as early as 2006 and five consecutive 24 Heures de Rouen titles from 2013 to 2017.
The 2026 season has already brought another major title. Racing alongside Thomas Cleret as Team Touax MRK Racing, the Morins won Race 1 and Race 3 at the UIM S3 World Endurance Championship round at Poses in Normandy just three weeks ago, claiming the world endurance title in the process. Peter is a seven-time S3 world champion who also competes at F1H2O level, and lines up for Team RPM in F2. Nelson is the endurance specialist of the two. For nearly two decades they have shared a cockpit in near-perfect synchrony. At Klaipėda they switch sides and race against each other.
Riabko
Edgaras Riabko (#41, Lithuania) arrives with home advantage at Klaipėda, where he has been a consistent front-runner for over a decade. He took fourth in the 2025 championship. Giacomo Sacchi (#74, Monaco), fifth in 2025, is also entered.
Full entry list
| # | Driver | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mathilda Wiberg | Sweden |
| 2 | Johan Österberg | Sweden |
| 4 | Jarno Vilmunen | Finland |
| 5 | Dainis Podzuks | Latvia |
| 9 | Mette Bjerknes | UK |
| 11 | Peter Morin | France |
| 14 | Ian Blacker | UK |
| 27 | Andre Solvang | Norway |
| 33 | Nelson Morin | France |
| 41 | Edgaras Riabko | Lithuania |
| 45 | Duarte Benavente | Portugal |
| 51 | Nils Slakteris | Latvia |
| 70 | Hilmer Wiberg | Sweden |
| 74 | Giacomo Sacchi | Monaco |
| 77 | Tobias Munthe-Kaas | Norway |
| 96 | Roope Virtanen | Finland |
The entry list is provisional as of 15 May 2026 and subject to change before the round. The Grand Prix of Lithuania takes place at the Klaipėda Cruise Ship Terminal and Danė River Sailors’ Quay. Entry is free.
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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.
