The Regione Sardegna Grand Prix of Italy opens the 2026 F1H2O season in Cagliari this Friday, and among the teams on the water this weekend, one will be doing something it has never done in more than thirty years of racing: defending an F1H2O World Championship.
Victory Team won their first-ever UIM F1H2O Teams’ Championship in Sharjah last December, alongside Shaun Torrente’s fourth drivers’ title. Before last season, they had never won an F1H2O championship to defend. This weekend, for the first time, they will have to.
The Offshore Record
Victory Team: Major Championship Titles
| Class 1 World Championships | 14 (1993, 1995, 1996, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2007-2014) |
| Class 1 European Championships | 8 |
| XCAT World Championships | 7 (2012-2017, 2025) |
| C2 World Championships | 4 |
| Middle East Championships | 7 |
| F1H2O Teams’ World Championship | 1 (2025) |
The scale of what Victory Team have built in offshore racing is difficult to overstate. Fourteen Class 1 World Championships, including eight consecutive titles from 2007 to 2014. Seven XCAT World Championship titles, six of them back to back between 2012 and 2017. The team have arrived at seasons as defending champions so many times in offshore racing that it is simply part of how they operate.
F1H2O was different. Victory Team have competed in the series for years, but the championship eluded them. When Shaun Torrente raced for them between 2015 and 2017, he finished third in the championship in his first season and left at the end of 2017 to join Team Abu Dhabi, with whom he won three of his eventual four world titles in 2018, 2019 and 2022.
The 2025 Breakthrough
Torrente’s return to Victory Team for 2025 was the piece that changed everything. With the American winning the drivers’ title and Finnish driver Alec Weckström contributing points throughout the season, Victory Team clinched both championships at the final round in Sharjah – their first F1H2O World Championship.
Victory Team head to Cagliari this weekend with Torrente and Weckström again, this time with championship numbers on their boats and something new to protect. The series now has a defending champion in the paddock who has never been in that position in F1H2O before.
There is another layer to it. Torrente has confirmed that 2026 will be his final season. A fifth title would move him past Scott Gillman and Alex Carella and make him the outright second most successful driver in F1H2O history, behind only Guido Cappellini’s ten. Victory Team’s first title defence and Torrente’s farewell are running on the same clock.
F1H2O Cagliari Coverage
Full event preview and the Italian-language guide are live on Powerboat News.
Everything You Need to Know
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.
