NEW LOOK SUPERSTOCK UK CHAMPIONSHIP UNVEILED AT AUTOSPORT INTERNATIONAL SHOW

Tags: Autosport International, new season, 2012

Britain’s biggest powerboat racing championship will be unveiled to the country’s motorsport community at the Autosport International Show at the National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham Thursday-Sunday, 12-15th January.

Organisers will reveal a new structure and announce a new venue, Eastbourne, joining the five-round championship alongside established hosts Plymouth, Hull, Cowes and Liverpool.

“Autosport International is the most prestigious event of its kind in Europe and possibly the world, so it is absolutely the right place for us to launch our 2012 season”, commented Championship Manager, Paolo Callea. “We have a number of seats to fill and will be talking to racing drivers throughout the four day show about either switching to powerboat racing or adding a Superstock campaign alongside their car racing or rallying programme.”

Running costs worked out by the 2011 P1 SuperStock champion team,  Pertemps, reveal how cost-effective powerboat racing in a single-make boat  like the P1 Panther 250 can be with a title-winning campaign costing around £12,500 shared between a driver and navigator.

“SuperStock enjoys massive prime time  television coverage on Sky Sports plus regional BBC and ITV stations and growing media coverage, so is becoming a serious rival to established forms of motorsport as it is a sponsor’s dream come true”, added Callea. “We believe  drivers will love the glamour and sheer adrenalin rush of racing powerboats, whilst their sponsors will love the high level of exposure  but low budgets.”

P1 SuperStock and its stable mate P1 AquaX will be the only racing water craft championships represented at Autosport International 2012 and are set to cause the same huge  interest from visitors to the show as last January when Powerboat P1 made its debut. This year the stand can be found in Hall 7 stand number 6245 close to the F1 Racing magazine grid of Formula One cars.

Eastbourne joins P1 calendar

For the first time ever P1 is bringing top class powerboat racing to the south coast town of Eastbourne. SuperStock UK and AquaX will both race at the East Sussex resort close to the iconic Beachy Head cliffs on Saturday/Sunday, 14/15th July as part of an extreme sport festival.

The season starts in May at the famous Dorset naval port of Plymouth, before heading up to East Yorkshire in June to race on the Humber in the revitalised port of Hull. After July’s trip to Eastbourne the series stays on the south coast with the penultimate round taking place on August bank holiday weekend at the home of powerboat racing in Cowes on the Isle of Wight. The final round is scheduled to be staged on the Mersey outside the historic Albert Dock in the heart of Liverpool.

This year the British SuperStock and AquaX championships will be organised under the new Qualifying Series Partner (QSP) banner reflecting the global spread of the Powerboat P1 championship as later this year a new QSP will start in Asia, joining the UK and USA.

SuperStock UK and AquaX UK calendar 2012:

19/20 May, Plymouth; 16/17 June, Hull; 14/15 July, Eastbourne; 25/26 August, Cowes; 15/16 September, Liverpool.*

*Subject to change