Powerboating, UIM XCAT World Championship in Fiumicino: Team GB imposes itself in the first round of the Championship

The show of powerboating and XCAT, the premier category of offshore, set the hearts of enthusiasts on fire in the waters of Fiumicino. In fact, the two opening rounds of the UIM XCAT 2023 World Championship were held off Rome. Race 1 saw the success of Team GB from the United Kingdom (Scott Williams and Martin Campbell), who preceded the Swedes of Swecat ( Sebastian Groth and Svenne Jansson) and the Italian Consulbrokers team (Alfredo Amato and Luca Betti). In Race 2, on the other hand, the Emiratis of Fazza (Arif Al Zaffain and Nadir Bin Hendi) prevailed. The podium was completed by Team GB (Scott Williams and Martin Campbell) and the Italians of the HPI Racing Team (Rosario Schiano Di Cola and Giuseppe Schiano Di Cola). After the first two rounds of the UIM XCAT 2023 World Championship, the overall classification is led by Team GB from the United Kingdom (Scott Williams and Martin Campbell) with 65 points, followed by the Swecat from Sweden (Sebastian Groth and Svenne Jansson) with 52 and by the Italians of the HPI Racing Team (Rosario Schiano Di Cola and Giuseppe Schiano Di Cola) at an altitude of 48. Followed by the Emiratis from Fazza (Arif Al Zaffain and Nadir Bin Hendi) at 35 points, the Q8 Oils team of Kuwait (Abdullatif Al Omani and Bader Al Dousari) at 33, the Italians of Consulbrokers (Alfredo Amato, Luca Betti) at 26 and the outgoing champions of the Italian-Australian team 222 Offshore (Darren Nicholson and Giovanni Carpitella) at 18. The Monegasques of Superciccio stop at 0 (Tommaso Polli and Matteo Nicolini) and the Italian team Powerboat Team (Andrea Comello and Jan Cees Cortelland) who did not take part in the Fiumicino race. The UIM XCAT World Championship has the authorization of the Italian Powerboat Federation, which has assigned the event to its affiliate Assoservices.

The local organization of this race was instead the Naval League of Fiumicino, the President Armando Fortini. The organizational costs are borne by OPTA, the XCAT team association chaired by the Neapolitan champion Alfredo Amato. The final phase of the Championship will take place in December 2023 in Dubai, after another Italian stage in the waters of Marina di Pisticci, followed by the trials in Costanza in Romania and Varna in Bulgaria in June. But in addition to sport, Fiumicino also experienced a beautiful day of solidarity. The Stella Selene Association – which for years has been carrying out a service in favor of disability and hardship and has its headquarters in Fiumicino – has in fact donated some bicycles to the children of the area. The delivery took place during the two days of sport, arousing emotion and admiration from those present. For the powerboat pilot Maurizio Schepici, the new record holder obtained at Fiumicino, it was “a beautiful gesture in favor of the less fortunate”. Raffaele Chiulli (UIM President) underlined how «sport is not just competition, but social inclusion and aggregation: for this reason we must ensure that it is everyone’s right. I hope that this beautiful gesture by Stella Selene is a signal that must also be received by other sports disciplines. I thank them for this gesture of social sharing».

Armando Fortini (President of the Italian Naval League of Fiumicino) declared: «In addition to the social aspect, this appointment was also a great attraction for the area. I want to thank Stella Selene who has been working in the area for many years, doing great things especially in the post-pandemic. This was a wonderful and very important gesture for the families of Fiumicino, especially the less well-off. The LNI of Fiumicino is close to this philosophy and, also thanks to its own boat which has been confiscated from criminals, carries out activities to bring young people and the disabled closer to sailing and the sea» «For us at Stella Selene – she said in a loud voice of the Silvia De Mari Association – it was a great pleasure to donate these bicycles. We have always been at the service of discomfort, the citizen and the territory. We have a number of associations that work together in order to promote integration and we are pleased that this gesture has taken place in this splendid sporting context of absolute global value”.