Dubai: Multiple world powerboat champions Victory Team have decided to branch out further with the acquisition of five-time world champion jet ski rider Kevin Reiterer to compete in the UIM-ABP Aquabike World Championships this season.
The 25-year-old Reiterer was unveiled as the team’s latest member at their Jebel Ali headquarters on Sunday by Huraiz Bin Huraiz, chairman of the Board of Directors in the presence of board member Ghanem Al Marri and Chris Wilkinson, who will be the manager of the new aquabike division this season.
During the course of the 2018-19 season, Victory Team has already confirmed their participation at various watersports disciplines around the world, including the UIM Formula One, F2 and F4 powerboat championships. And now with the addition of the young Austrian rider Reiterer, the Dubai-based team has further expanded on their ambitions in the world of watersports racing.
- Huraiz Bin Huraiz | Chairman of the Board of Directors
“This is the first step towards our interest in dominating another brand of watersports racing,” Bin Huraiz told Gulf News after officially unveiling Reiterer.
“The thinking behind drafting in a five-time world champion is to hit the ground running and target another world crown in our opening season itself. That’s the sort of impact we are looking to make on the international stage in our very first year. The bigger picture, of course, will be to establish a full squad comprising of young Emirati riders under the tutelage of a world champion like Kevin,” he added.
“The ultimate long-term goal will be to prepare a pool of watersports professionals who will be able to fit into the various interests at Victory Team. Once we have the young riders coming through, I doubt we will have an issue with drivers for any of the classes that our team participates in all over the globe,” Bin Huraiz related.
Reiterer will start his season in the Ski GP1 Division at the opening round of the 2018 UIM-ABP Aquabike World Championships to be held in Gallipoli, Italy, from May 25-27. The second round will move off to Olbia, Italy followed by a couple of rounds in China with Nansha (September 14-16) and Shanghai (September 21-23) being the destinations before the riders turn to the UAE for the last two rounds — in Dubai from November 15-17 followed by the season finale in Sharjah from December 11-14.
“As a business, we saw the need to branch out and assert our dominance in other forms of watersport activities. Today, Victory Team is seen the world over as the ultimate and truly professional set-up for powerboating. Now it is time to turn our attention to aquabikes where we intend to contribute with research and development of the sport,” Al Marri relayed.
“We took some time before asserting our brand in the world of powerboat racing. Now as we head into aquabikes it’s going to be no different. Those are the challenges before a world-class rider like Kevin, and I am confident he will come through with a world title in his very first year with Victory,” he added.
