Monsnificent: Monsnauteam Win Race 2 to Set Up Sunday Shootout

Monsnauteam have won Race 2 of the 2026 UIM S3 World Endurance Championship at Poses, with Benjamin Berti, Maverick Grolet, Hilmer Wiberg and Adam Wrenkler taking victory in the seven-hour heat on the River Seine. Team Touax MRK Racing, second across the line, still lead the championship by four points going into Sunday’s five-hour finale.

This weekend at Poses is not a round of a longer series. It is the entire 2026 UIM S3 World Endurance Championship: three heats, one venue, one weekend on the Seine. The world champions will be decided on Sunday afternoon, and the mathematics are brutal. Monsnauteam need to win Race 3 and Touax MRK must finish third or lower. If Touax secure second place, the title is theirs regardless of what anyone else does.

Monsnauteam led from early in the race on the tighter, more technical 2.091km Saturday circuit and were two laps clear of Touax MRK at the five-hour mark. Team Torpilleur Racing came through strongly in the closing stages to take third, with Akvashelf Racing fourth and Team Inshore Performance fifth.

First Lap Incident Takes Out Two Boats

Saturday’s race lost two competitors before it had properly started. Slovakia Team’s Boat 86 and GSET by MRC’s Boat 13, which had returned after Jeremy Brisset’s Friday capsize with a second hull, collided at the second turn on the opening lap. Niklāvs Rimeicāns of Akvashelf Racing was directly behind and watched it happen.

Rimeicāns told Powerboat News what he saw.

Simon was on the inside. Number 13 was on the outside and turned too sharply into the corner. He didn’t leave enough space for number 86 and crashed into him near the engine at the back of the boat. It was a super slow rollover for number 86.

For Rimeicāns, watching Simon Jung go over carried personal weight. The two drivers had contested the Formula Future World Championship together, with Jung taking the title by a split second ahead of the Latvian.

It was very sad to see him roll over. I know him from my childhood. Wrong place, wrong time. There is nothing you can do about it. This is racing.

Jung was unhurt. Neither Boat 86 nor Boat 13 took any further part in Race 2.

Night and Day

The Saturday circuit is 92 metres shorter per lap than Friday’s layout and considerably more demanding. Cooler temperatures, a stiff wind and choppy water replaced the sunshine that had baked the cockpits on Race 1 day, and the change suited some teams better than others.

Toms Smilskalns of Akvashelf Racing had no doubt which he preferred.

It is like night and day. Today is way more rough. The race course is harder and more tricky. The wind is bigger. For our team I prefer this course; there were more corners, which needs more acceleration, which we have.

Smilskalns also shed light on a health scare that had briefly affected the Akvashelf camp on Friday. One of the team’s drivers was out of the boat for around an hour mid-race.

Maybe it was the sun. I am comfortable driving in hot boats because my main boat in the World Championship is black. But it was very sunny yesterday and the cockpit temperatures must have been difficult.

Swedish Vikings

Inside the Monsnauteam camp, Friday night’s driving rota had been settled by personal ambition. Adam Wrenkler had pushed to take the wheel in the dark, inspired by years of watching the Rouen 24 Hours on YouTube. Hilmer Wiberg had other ideas.

Wrenkler told Powerboat News: “He’ll run scared of the dark, that’s why. So I had to step in.”

Wrenkler described what he found once the lights came on.

It is a dream to do endurance during the night. I started at dusk, so I could get a feel for what lines to take. After that you just have to drive on rhythm and feeling. You can see absolutely nothing except lights and buoys.

Wrenkler drove until 23:00 before handing over to Maverick Grolet for the final hour to midnight. That left the Swede with around five hours’ sleep before Saturday’s start. His verdict was brief.

Swedish Vikings, we don’t need sleep.

Reflecting on Race 2, Wrenkler was happy with how the day had gone.

I prefer this course. The other one was fun to go around the island, but we did better today, so I can’t complain.

Wrenkler has a packed 2026 season ahead, with Formula 4 World and European Championship campaigns alongside Offshore 3B commitments. He has no doubt the endurance miles at Poses have been worthwhile.

It is fun. And would I do endurance again? Yes.

The Night Was the Target

Peter Morin, one of the three Touax MRK Racing drivers who took Race 1 victory, spoke to Powerboat News during the closing stages of Race 2 from a position of second place, running the championship calculation in real time.

On the Friday performance, he was straightforward.

It was a very nice race with the team. We put the boat at the start and went out until the end. We were very happy about the performance. We made a good step and the whole team worked a lot. That was the goal.

When Brisset’s Boat 13 flipped early in Race 1, Touax had noted the threat before the incident happened.

We saw during practice that he was a little bit quick. We knew he was fast. But we also know it is a long endurance race. We have to be consistent. That is the main thing.

Morin was direct about his preference for Friday’s island circuit over the Saturday layout.

Personally, I prefer the first race. It was much more fun. Maybe one day we could race twenty-four hours around the island.

With around twenty minutes of Race 2 remaining and second place secured, the tactical picture was clear.

For this race, we would like to get to second position because we cannot catch the first. The main thing the whole team wanted was to win the night race. That was the target.

The significance of Friday’s result goes beyond the points. In the two previous editions of the 24 Hours at Rouen, Touax MRK led both races and lost both in the closing stages.

It was a long time that we wanted to race more in the night. The last two editions of the 24 Hours were very unlucky. We were leading two times and missed the victory. It was a very good adventure but very sad, finally.

Morin also races in both the UIM F1H2O World Championship and UIM F2 World Championship. Sardinia and a new venue in Asia are among the F1H2O rounds on his calendar this season.

Race 2 Result

S3 World Endurance Championship Standings After Race 2

Race 3 starts at 11:00 CEST on Sunday, May 3. Full coverage at the 24 Heures Motonautiques de Normandie 2026 hub.