Friday, April 5: As the dust settles on a staggeringly successful inaugural Grand Prix of Bình Đinh-Vietnam in Quy Nhon and two weeks of thrilling action on Thi Nai Bay, H2O Racing’s founder Nicoló di San Germano has been quick to praise the amazing work put in by the local promoter in collaboration with local government and the business community to stage the event so successfully.
Through the hard work and determined efforts of Ông Trẩn Việt Anh, Chairman of F1 Bình Định, Phan Anh Tuan, Chairman of the Binh Dinh People's Comittee and Ông Bùi Trung Hiểu, Vice-President of Sport and Cultural Department Bình Định province, and their teams, the second round of the UIM F1H2O World Championship and round one of the UIM-ABP Aquabike World Championship were an unmitigated success.
Tens of thousands of spectators visited a purpose-built new race venue on the shores of Thi Nai Bay and the local promoter worked tirelessly with local business and higher authorities to stage spectacular opening and closing ceremonies, a food and entertainment festival over the course of the two weeks and additional entertainment for new fans of world powerboating and aquabiking.
The opening ceremony for the F1H2O race was held in the presence of acting Vietnamese President Võ Thị Ánh Xuân and also marked the official opening of the Vietnam Moto Boat and Powerboat Federation in the presence of Mr. Tran Viet Anh, Chairman of the Joint Stock Bình Định F1 company and head of the campaign committee establishing the federation, and Mr. Vu Chien Thang, Deputy Minister of Domestic Affairs.
Nicoló di San Germano said: “I think this event proved to all the international federations and members of the UIM that public and private co-operation can be a big success. This is the first time we have seen a perfect and strong partnership between the public and private sectors and it achieved a formidable result.
“When we started the idea of organising this event, members of the team in Vietnam said, quite rightly, that powerboating is an unknown sport in Vietnam. There were two possibilities. We considered, do we start from the beginning, from the school and we build up over the course of a few years with hard work to make a structure of powerboating? That was the first option. Or we start with the two top events, the F1H2O World Championship and the Aquabike World Championship and we introduce the top of the sport to Vietnam.
“We felt that would generate interest and enthusiasm from the new generation and that would create a bottom-up system. That is what made me very happy. I understand that there is a commitment of the federation, not only to organise top events, but also to start with National Championships with an introduction of every age level from kids to powerboat racers. I am sure that is the right approach and we are proud to be part of this project as it gets underway.”
