Portomaso Chaudron launched

The new Chaudron 33 powerboat to race this year's UIM Powerboat P1 World Championship was officially launched yesterday at the Portomaso Marina.

The Maltese team this year is racing under the name of Portomaso Chaudron 33 where Portomaso are the official sponsors.

"The past three seasons have been a most rewarding experience where we tasted real tough competition and success too," Aaron Ciantar, the pilot of the Portomaso Chaudron team, said.

"In 2005, we placed third overall in the SuperSport Class. Yet our boat was purely a 'speedboat' and we were most conscious that we were not at par with the real 'racing powerboats' at the P1 Worlds.

"Now, with the new boat we can describe our position as like-for-like. This should give us courage to aim for top performance."

The 2006 UIM Powerboat P1 World Championship starts on the weekend of May 13 and 14 with the Grand Prix of Malta. For the third year the navigator of the Portomaso Chaudron team will be Audrien Ciantar, Aaron's sister.

The other grands prix this season will be staged in Italy (Anzio - June 3 and 4); Germany (Travemunde - July 1 and 2); Britain (Cowes - August 26 and 27); Italy (Mediterranean GP at Gallipoli - September 16 and 17); and Spain (tba - September 30 and October 1).

During yesterday's launching, George Fenech, chairman of the Tumas Group, presented the sponsorship document to Charles Ciantar, manager of the Chaudron team.