Nice new venue on XCAT Powerboating Calendar

3 June 2015, Dubai – The capital of the French Riviera, Nice, will add its name to the impressive list of new venues for this year’s UIM XCAT World Powerboat Series.
That’s after WPPA vice president Dr Khalid Al Zahed and CEO Ronan Morgan met with the mayor of Nice, Christian Estrosi, as well as the President of the French Powerboat Association, Jean-Marie Lhomme, to sign a host city MOU last week.
President of the UIM, the world governing body for powerboating, Dr Raffaele Chiulli was also in attendance.
This will be the first time that XCAT racing – a thrilling form of powerboat racing that sees teams of two pilots in two-engined, carbon fibre boats that can reach up to 200km an hour – will be contested in France.

The agreement which was signed between the WPPA and the city of Nice will see a round of the UIM XCAT World Series taking place in the beautiful Cote d’Azur city for the next three years. This year’s race will be contested over the weekend of 16-18 October.
WPPA CEO Morgan said: “The next race of the UIM XCAT World Series is taking place in Portugal in a couple of weeks and the one after that in Australia in August. With the Nice event scheduled for October, that means three new countries within a matter of months,” said Morgan.
“I believe that is testament to the rapid rate at which the hugely popular XCAT Series – the greatest motorsport series on water – is growing,” added the CEO.
Morgan explained that the group discussed how this partnership, and the Series, would deliver value for the host city as well as talking about pre-event promotions, broadcasting plans and other arrangements.

“The mayor is very excited and enthusiastic about this agreement and hosting the Series,” said Morgan. “It really is a great venue – with the race set to take place at the popular Promenade des Anglais.
“It’s very accessible for the public and a real focal point of Nice. It’s a very stylish kind of promenade where everyone walks up and down so they can easily take in all the exhilarating XCAT action this October,” he added.
France has traditionally been one of the historical hot-spots for powerboating, with a circuit race on the Seine dating back to 1903.
The XCAT event in October will be the fifth round of the 2015 UIM XCAT World Series. For more information on the Series, log on to www.xcatracing.com