Gold Coast based Maritimo Offshore Racing has started its 2016 season on a solid footing winning major races at the first of the Australian Offshore Superboat Championships held in Bowen, Queensland last weekend.
The team is headed into its busiest year ever with new boats, upgraded designs and motors and a goal to take out at least two Australian Championships and the World Championships at Key West later in the year.
The team won the Australian Offshore Superboat series Supercat Extreme category last year, but after issues did not place at the World Championships.
The first races in this year’s Australian series saw Maritimo Offshore Racing throttleman Ross Willaton and driver Travis Thompson compete in the Powerboat Extreme category in Maritimo 11.
Maritimo driver Andrew Willaton and throttleman Andrew Searle competed in Maritimo 12 in the Superboat 1000 category.
Maritimo 11 won pole and then took out both race one and two winning the outright and Superboat Extreme Class.
Maritimo 12, with the two Andrews’ crew, came second outright and was first in their class, the Superboat 1000, in race one. They were fourth outright and second in their class in race two.
Willaton said the racing was very competitive and the Maritimo team was pleased with the performance of both its race boats. “We are ironing out a few bugs with each and every run and plan to increase our competitiveness as the series progresses,” he said.
The team’s aim this year is to be on top of the podium at events from Bowen in North Queensland to Key West in the USA running three individual boats.
There will be further races in Mackay, Coffs Harbour, Gosford, Lake Macquarie and Hervey Bay.
Willaton said the Maritimo team was working on the Key West Superboat Unlimited boat while competition in the Australian series unfolded. “We have a very big year ahead of us, but we keep the team small and tight and we have got off to a good start in Bowen,” he said.
Maritimo’s founder, Bill Barry-Cotter is heavily involved in the race team and the design and construction of the race boats.
“With Bill taking part in all the decision making, we have intense discussions on how we can maximize our engine performance,” said Willaton.
The Maritimo race team designs, builds and tunes all the race engines in house.
Maritimo’s Marketing and International Sales Manager Greg Haines said the experience gained at the coal face of international offshore racing was invaluable in the design and performance of the company’s production cruisers.
“No other Australian manufacturer, and actually very few internationally, have the benefit of the learnings we gain from serious offshore racing which can be ultimately be inbuilt into our production boats,” he said.
Maritimo Offshore Racing is also heavily involved in the preparation of the Gold Coast Australia XCAT boat that is competing in the World XCAT Series. This race boat is outboard powered and driven by Tom Barry-Cotter.
