The provisional calendar for the 2010 Powerboat P1 World Championship season was announced yesterday by London-based rights holders, P1 Management Limited, reflecting growth, consistency and stability for the world's leading offshore race series.

"We made a commitment to announce the 2010 provisional calendar as soon as possible in order to allow sufficient planning time for key stakeholders such as teams, manufacturers, sponsors, broadcasters, host cities and the broader marine industry," said Powerboat P1 chairman and CEO, Asif Rangoonwala.

The 2010 championship will commence a month earlier than the traditional May start date with the opening Grand Prix of the Sea in Split, Croatia, which follows the conclusion of a three-year deal with one of the Adriatic's most spectacular locations.

In an exciting move, the event will be hosted in conjunction with the renowned Split Boat Show.

"This will be one of the finest events on the P1 calendar and the opportunity to partner with the boat show will give us the ideal opportunity to showcase the sport to a captive audience," says Powerboat P1 Commercial Director, Robert Wicks.

P1 Management is in the final stages of negotiations with three potential host cities for the second event on the 2010 calendar, scheduled for late May and a decision will be made shortly.

This year, Malta hosted the weekend races in May. It was the opening round of the season.

"We had hoped to have these discussions concluded by now but we're not far away and it's great to see the enhanced levels of interest in Powerboat P1 from what amounts to a diverse array of potential host cities," added Wicks.

The third Grand Prix event revisits Istanbul, Turkey in June following the success of the 2009 event which saw the series take to the spectacular setting of the Bosphorus Strait for the first time in its history.

A welcome return to Portugal follows in July with the popular resort of Cascais hosting P1 racing next year.

"Plans are already well underway for an extended festival on the water with several other disciplines joining P1 to offer even greater levels of entertainment for spectators," said Rangoonwala.

The championship will head back to Sweden in early August and Sicily in mid-September.

2010 Calendar (provisional)

Round 1: April 16-18, Split, Croatia.
Round 2: May 21-23, TBA.
Round 3: June 18-20, Istanbul, Turkey.
Round 4: July 9-11, Cascais, Portugal.
Round 5: August 6-8, venue TBA, Sweden.
Round 6: September 10-12, Sicily, Italy.
Round 7: October, TBA.