Tuesday, May 28: As teams and race officials countdown to the forthcoming Regione Sardegna Grand Prix of Italy on June 14th-16th, Maverick Racing has begun to test the waters and sound out potential drivers for a place in the team for the 2025 UIM F1H2O World Championship.
The French operation has been a stalwart of the championship for many seasons and Cédric Deguisne and Alexandre Bourgeot are tackling this year’s series in their Moore boats.
Bourgeot made his debut with Maverick Racing at the Grand Prix of San Nazzaro in Italy in 2021, while Deguisne started out in F1H2O racing in the mid-noughties and has competed in the series full-time since 2017. He has finished 11th in the Drivers’ Championship on three occasions with a fourth-place Grand Prix finish his best to date.
They have tested the waters of social media over the last few days and have already received interest from a number of individuals keen to move into the world of F1H2O racing.
Speaking on Monday afternoon, Deguisne said: “We are looking for a new driver for the 2025 season. At this time, several people have made contact with us. It is only new pilots and not from the old F1H2O. This is only the beginning, this is only two days, so we are waiting, perhaps….
“I am very excited for that. We will take some decisions, certainly in September or October. We are waiting for all the pilots for the moment. Maybe some older pilots will make contact. We will see. In the past, we had Erik Stark and Alex Carella driving for the Maverick Racing Team, so we will see.”
Perhaps, the team’s finest moment to date came in mid-June of 2018 when Stark stunned his rivals to claim a 3.34-second victory for Maverick Racing at the Grand Prix of London in the Royal Victoria Dock on the River Thames . The Swede, who claimed pole position for that race, drove for the team at the opening two rounds of that season before moving on to Team Abu Dhabi several days after the British round of the championship. The year before the team also ran Beranger Robart and Amaury Jousseaume on select races.
In 2019 Season Carella, who was already a four-time World Champion, joined the French operation and claimed his 16thcareer GP win comfortably from pole position on his first appearance with the team at the Censtar Grand Prix of Xiamen in China.
The door is now open for a new star to follow in the footsteps of Stark and Carella and lift Maverick Racing back into the world spotlight.
