Panatta bounces back in Powerboat P1

Former tennis star turned offshore racer Adriano Panatta is back in Powerboat P1, and the Italian is looking to return to title-winning ways with the #76 Italcraft Evolution class boat

If you’re looking for a diverse sporting character, then you probably can’t get more diverse than #76 Italcraft Inrizzardi Racing Team pilot Adriano Panatta. In the 1970s, he was wowing the crowds on the grass and clay courts of the international tennis scene. Now, after winning Powerboat P1’s Evolution class title in 2004, he’s a big player in the Italian Powerboat Series. For the 2008 season, he’s made a welcome return to Powerboat P1 after a two-year sabbatical.

One of the more charming and charismatic entrants in the offshore racing world, Panatta’s greatest tennis success came in the 1976 French Open at Roland Garros, and as part of the Davis Cup-winning Italian national team that same year. Panatta managed to move clear away from the tennis world, though, rather than lingering on the sidelines in a coaching or commentating role. “I don’t play tennis any more,” he admits. “I never did after the end of my career. I have great memories from those times, but I can’t say that I miss it. Tennis is in the past. These days it brings back good memories. Now I play golf, and I race boats.”

Looking back to his departure from Powerboat P1 after winning the title in 2004, Panatta admits that it took the recent sea change of approach to regulating and promoting the championship to encourage his return. The more cohesive management structure and a more rigidly enforced and clearer rules structure is keeping racing fair, close and safe on the track, while making the sport more accessible to fans watching both in the harbour, and around the world on TV and the internet.

“I decided to leave the Powerboat P1 championship because I didn’t agree with the way that the rules were applied,” he explains. “My return to Powerboat P1 is because there’s a new management team that has made some important changes. This new team is working hard and I think that Powerboat P1 is on the right track now.”

Early-season technical problems – typical of any new team in a top-level racing championship – prevented Panatta and the Inrizzardi Racing Team’s #76 Italcraft boat from racing in the season-opener in San Benedetto, Italy, or the Marseille Grand Prix of the Sea in France. The team have temporarily swapped their Seatek diesel-powered Binautica hull for a similarly Seatek-powered Metamarine hull, while the Binautica hull is prepared for an assault on the Venice-Monte Carlo run in July (read more about that here). It’s clear, however, that the Italian’s long game is for the championship in 2009.

“This season in Powerboat P1 can be defined as a transition one,” Panatta admits. “Our desire to return depended on many factors – especially as the series was shown in this new form, led by [Powerboat P1 CEO] Jim O’Toole. I must say that I’m very satisfied and I’m happy to confirm that I want to compete in the championship in 2009. This season, we try to do our best, but we’re already working on the boat to be protagonists in 2009.”

Given Panatta’s successful sporting heritage, who would bet against him fulfilling that promise?