Warner Bros. Discovery to partner H2O Racing

MONACO: H2O Racing has signed a ground-breaking agreement with Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) to broadcast live action and highlights of the 2023 UIM F1H2O World Championship across Europe and Asia through television coverage on Eurosport and streaming on discovery+ and the Eurosport App.

The broadcast partnership has been signed for an initial five-year term, with the season opener live from Indonesia on February 26, and includes live racing action, a season preview and review and a highlight magazine programme.

This should catapult live action and the spectacle of modern powerboat racing into millions of homes and bring a far wider audience to the pinnacle of the sport.

H2O Racing founder Nicolò di San Germano said: “This new agreement is very exciting and is a major boost to our media coverage. It gives us extra reach to a large number of keen racing fans across Europe, where many of our competitors reside, and, of course, increases our reach in Asia.

“Eurosport is very strong in the region and is seen as the go-to channel for sports like MotoGP, Grand Slam tennis tournaments, the Olympic Games, winter sports and snooker.”

Trojan Paillot, Vice President, Sports Rights Acquisitions and Syndication at Warner Bros. Discovery Sports, said: “We continue to support the growth of the widest variety of sports by harnessing our unparalleled international scale to reach new audiences. Through our new collaboration with H2O Racing, we are pleased to further expand our live sports offering for millions of viewers.”

Warner Bros. Discovery Sports collectively engages 130 million sports fans across its brands, channels and platforms in Europe alone in 20 languages every month, offering the widest range of live sports action for its viewers.

The full calendar of events for the 2023 F1H2O World Championship includes: Indonesia (February 25-26), China (April 29-30), France (July 1-2), Italy (July 8-9 or September 1-3), Sardinia, Italy (September 30-October 1), Asia (November 4-5), Asia (November 11-12 or November 18-19), UAE (December 16-17).

The UIM F1H2O World Championship is the flagship international series of single-seater inshore circuit powerboat racing organised by promotor H2O Racing in collaboration with the Monaco-based Union Internationale Motonautique (UIM), the world governing body of powerboat racing.

The series attracts up to 10 teams and 20 of the world’s leading drivers and stages events across the world. The tunnel-hull catamarans have exceptional handling capabilities and can enter hairpin turns at over 144km/h and top 225km/h on the straights.

Grand Prix are usually staged over three days with free practice taking place on day one, followed by further practice and qualifying on day two and a third practice session and the race itself on day three.