Tuesday, 17 April: Simone Bianca Schuft becomes the first German woman to compete in the UIM F1H2O World Championship with Francesco Cantando announcing she has joined him at Blaze Performance.

Schuft, 43, who was born in Saarbruecken and lives in Dusseldorf, steps up in to the top-flight having worked her way up through the racing ranks; her early racing career kicked off in Formula ADAC (S550) competing in national and international events from 2003 to 2007, then moving up to Formula Mercury/ADAC Masters (F4) over the next two years at world, european and national level, as well as competing in F4 in two races in the World Championship in Portugal and at the Rouen 24hr. From F4 she moved up to F2 competing in both circuit and endurance, with notable results at the Rouen24hr with a best second place finish in the F2 class and second overall in the world championship, also achieving a second place in the 24hr in the top class in 2015. “I am feeling very excited about this opportunity and really looking forward to the challenge,” she said. “When I started once my very first race, this - the F1 - seems so unachievable and far away. And now: the 'unachievable far' is so close.”

As for her expectations and targets for the first season, she added. “It’s all about learning, get experience and develop myself further. With Franz I found a very experienced team colleague and team manager and I guess I could have found nobody better.”

As Schuft gets set to launch into her rookie season, her new teammate Francesco Cantando, who has 42 podiums under his belt with 12 on the top step, is all set to make his 170th race start in Portugal.