Tuesday, May 26th - Eighteen drivers from eight teams will battle it out in the opening Grand Prix of the 2026 season in Cagliari this weekend (May 29-31). After a stunning season last year that went right to the wire, and with each of last season’s races being won by a different driver, who will triumph in Cagliari is anyone’s guess.
Current World Champion Shaun Torrente is firm among the favourites. The American confirmed that this will be his last season before he bows out of the sport, putting extra pressure on Torrente to deliver this year and claim a fifth World Championship title. He will be racing alongside Alec Weckstrom for Victory Team, with Weckstrom himself also in contention for the top spot in Cagliari following a breakout season last year that saw him bag his maiden race win on the way to securing the Team’s World Championship title for Victory Team.
Jonas Andersson came achingly close to pipping Torrente to last year’s title, falling short at the last hurdle in the latter half of the final race of the season. He therefore returns this year with added fire in his belly and under a new racing regime following his surprise announcement at the beginning of the year that he was joining Team Abu Dhabi. There, he will race alongside fellow Swede Erik Stark, who is yet to join Andersson in the select club of World Championship winners, though Stark came within a whisker in 2018 and 2023 with runner-up finishes. Completing the expanded three-boat line-up for Team Abu Dhabi this year is Rashed Al Qemzi, absent last year but a familiar face in the F1H2O circuit since his debut in 2017. He will hope to transfer his strong form and multiple titles in the F2 category to results at the highest echelons of the sport.
Sharjah Team will also be fielding three boats in Cagliari under an expanded line-up for the season. Both of their drivers last year claimed a Grand Prix victory, with Rusty Wyatt triumphing in the season’s opening race in Indonesia, and Stefan Arand winning at the opposite end of the season at the Grand Prix of Sharjah. Having already claimed Grand Prix victories, both are in it to win it this year, hoping to signal a changing of the guard in the sport, from the established champions to a new generation hungry for Championship success.This season, they are joined at Sharjah Team by Grant Trask, who also comes off the back of a great 2025 in which he secured two podium finishes and firmly established himself amongst the top of the racing pack.
Alongside Torrente and Andersson, Sami Selio is the only other current driver to have won the World Championship. This year Selio will race under the newly rebranded Comparato Racing team banner, though he retains his Sharjah-made boat and team of mechanics and radiomen. Alongside him will be Alberto Comparato, the young Italian let down by a series of DNFs last season but who will hope to make a splash when racing in his home nation in Cagliari.
Stromoy Racing retains the same line-up as last season. Marit Stromoy will continue to race with her four-stroke V8 360 APX engine, a racing set-up that set her apart from the rest of the racing pack’s two-strokes in recent seasons. Meanwhile her teammate Bartek Marszalek will continue with his two-stroke set-up that netted him a podium finish last season in Jeddah.
Whilst Stromoy will maintain the distinction of being F1H2O’s only female driver, she will no longer be the only driver to race with a four-stroke engine, as Maverick Racing’s Cédric Deguisne comes into the 2026 season with a completely refreshed set-up that includes a brand new hull and a V8 four-stroke 360 APX Mercury. His teammate Alexandre Bourgeot will retain his same racing set-up from last season, hoping to translate his strong showings in the Sprint Races into solid results in this year’s Grand Prix.
A back surgery forced Brent Dillard to miss all but the final Grand Prix of the 2025 Season, with China CTIC Team cycling through a roster of drivers in his absence. This year, Dillard returns for the full season, alongside Peter Morin who remained a constant for the team last season.
Duarte Benavente is one of only three current drivers to have taken part in the last Grand Prix in Cagliari, with the Portuguese having fond memories of racing in the Sardinian city where he claimed a podium finish in his last race there in 2004. Benavente returns for his twenty-seventh season in the sport for Atlantic Team, hoping his experience will set him apart from the rest of the pack on his return to Cagliari. Alongside him for Atlantic Team remains Ben Jelf, who secured his first career podium during last season’s opening race, and will be hoping to match that feat this year too.
