The City of Rouen has just hammered the final nail in the coffin of the race, by announcing today that it would no longer authorise the event.

Against a backdrop of Covid and then financial difficulties, the event has been under fire for a few years now and with the arrival at the head of the town hall of a coalition formed between the PS and Ecology parties did not bode well for the future of the sporting event.

The decision was announced in a press release to no longer issue the authorisation to the Rouen Yacht Club to organise the event.

For more than six months now, we have been going through a serious energy crisis. The purchasing power of our fellow citizens is very strongly impacted, as are the budgets of municipalities. Significant efforts are required of everyone, households, communities, companies, especially in terms of energy sobriety. We must be exemplary. Global warming, so tragically visible this summer through major and recurrent episodes of heat waves, also has consequences and pushes us to act.

This difficult context, in which we find ourselves today, will unfortunately last. It requires making choices. This is the reason the City of Rouen has decided to no longer issue the authorisation to the Rouen Yacht Club to organize the 24h motorboat.

After the announcement, the Rouen Yacht Club reacted by saying

The organisers of the 24 Heures Motonautiques de Rouen are stunned by the announcement of the City of Rouen of its intention to no longer authorise the sporting event in the name of the climate and energy crisis.

Jérémy Brisset, Vice-President of the Rouen Yacht Club seen here celebrating their team’s recent victory at the 2022 Orlen Necko UIM World Circuit Endurance Championships in Augustów, Poland said

We’re a bit on our ass at the moment as we have just heard the news. The incomprehension is all the greater because we had a meeting a month ago with the town hall. We asked them if we could communicate about the 2023 event and Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol said ‘yes.’  At that meeting, the municipality asked the club to prepare a plan for September. We thought it was shaping up well. Since the Greens are there, we know that it would be complicated but it looks like these past months we have been working for nothing.

PRW understands that a meeting of the Rouen Yacht Club board of Directors is scheduled to take place next week. The future of endurance racing will for sure be at the heart of the discussions.

Day two of the 2022 Orlen Necko UIM World Circuit Endurance Championship still saw some of the teams facing technical issues. The Polish-Lithuanian team of Toma Racing Team started the second six-hour stint well and maintained second position during the first two hours of the race, much to the delight of the Polish fans. Unfortunately, later in the day though they dropped out because of an engine cooling issue.

The Phoenix Racing Team also struggled when they lost their powered trim. This time the podium was beyond their reach.

Also struggling to finish the day were the Viking Inshore Team who crashed out half an hour before the end.

Out in front from the very first hour though were the Latvian-Estonian team of Nils Slakteris and Stefan Árand. When Slakteris got behind the wheel his first task was putting the misfortune of the previous day’s crash behind him. Now his goal was to drive confidently and calmly while maintaining first position lead that Árand had built up. The pair who raced flawlessly and deservedly took the top step on the podium. With the points they had earned from the second six-hour race added to those they collected the previous day it meant that they would collect the bronze medal.

The competition was not easy because to keep the first place I had to fight until the very last second. Even until the chequered flag I had to keep my attention and fight for positions on the track. I’m disappointed for the failure of the first day, but I am sure that it will give us as a team an impetus to compete next year.

When Árand spoke to PRW he said

I am incredibly grateful that I was invited to participate in this competition because the team works very professionally, and I feel a lot of support. This was the first time that a driver from Estonia has participated in the endurance race, and I am incredibly proud that I could stand on the podium with my Latvian colleague in this competition. It was definitely a challenge but an experience I am thankful I got to have, plus with just the two of us out there both of us got a lot more valuable seat time.

Following the detailed UIM technical inspection at the conclusion of the event, which all boats passed, second place for Team Boat 99 gave them enough points to regain their world title. The Arion Racing Team secured the silver medal, reaching the podium for a fourth successive season.

A delighted Jérémy Brisset from Team Boat 99 told PRW

This year it wasn’t easy because the competitors have made a lot of progress and the level is now high. We were able to win the first race on Saturday which allowed us to master the Sunday race more easily for the general classification. All the strategies put in place went as planned in particular the team did a great job on the refuelling part, which allowed us drivers to save a lot of time on the circuit.

He concluded by saying

We are happy to keep our title and will continue to work for 2023.

Images by Arek Rejs and Marcin Kociucki

As the first of two six-hour races scheduled for the weekend got under way it wasn’t the start that the Polish-Lithuanian crew of the Toma Racing Team had hoped for. With hardly any laps completed the yellow flag was out neutralising the race due to their driver taking out both turn marks for which the team received a penalty of a five-lap deduction.

With the race soon back under way the Riga Powerboating Team with Stefan Árand at the wheel took an early lead and after just two hours they had eighty-nine laps completed. Lap after lap they slowly increased their advantage over their competitors. Then disaster struck following a driver change when Nils Slakteris was caught out by the wake created by a spectator boat and over, he went. Fortunately, Slakteris was unharmed, but their Lonnberg hull needed some repairs. However, the Riga Team mechanics are seasoned specialists and after just two hours, they were back on the water to continue racing. With Árand allotted time quota used up Slakteris was back in the boat though any chance of finishing on the podium had gone.

The water traffic on Lake Neko is continually active, which unfortunately created additional waves for the participants of the competition. Unfortunately, Slakteris hit one such wave from a nearby cutter which was too big, and he crashed out. Tomorrow is a new day and a new competition. After what we experienced today, we can see that we can compete in the first position and that will be our goal.

It was heartbreak for Team Torpilleurs Racing who were comfortably in second place at the halfway point. Then with just fifteen minutes to go they broke a propeller. With them unable to take the chequered flag it meant all their arduous work was in vain and they finished the day unclassified.

Completing the day with two hundred and fifteen laps were the crew of Team Boat 99. Jérémy Brisset, Quentin Dailly and Romuald Kauffmann had arrived in Augustów, Poland with the intention of retaining their UIM World Championship title and have quietly gone about that task.

They finished the day just five laps ahead of their fellow countrymen in the Arion Racing Team, so this task will be far from a comfortable walk around the lake.

Photos supplied by Arek Rejs

Amongst the favourites for the championship are two French teams Arion Racing Team and Team Boat 99 that have been World Endurance Champions in previous years.

Jérémy Brisset from Teamboat 99 and his crew have arrived in Poland, with a view to preserving their title.

Last year, we won the two six-hour races, and therefore also the overall world title. This year, the goal is to do the same. I have the same teammates Quentin Dailly and Romuald Kauffmann, along with the same crew, and the same equipment, and of course we are aiming to leave with same result.

This year, a new Polish-Lithuanian Toma Racing Team will take part consisting of Paulius Stainys from Lithuania, who is the current Formula 4 European vice-champion. Marcin Zieliński, who won the bronze medal at the 2021 Formula 500 European Championships.

Michał Rogalski, who has previously finished on the podium in the endurance championship and Jakub Rochnowski, the Polish GT30 Champion.

There will also be well-known pilots from the UIM F4 class. Team 51 with Latvian Nils Slatkeris, who competed in Augustów for the first-time last year and managed to take third place with his team in Saturday’s race. This year he will be accompanied by the Estonian racer Stefan Arand making his endurance debut.

Once again, the Arion Racing Team will have the experience of Margot Lemesle in their driver line up and making her debut in Shark Racing Team will be German racer Marie-Luies Schilling who normally competes in her Formula R1000 MLS team.

On Friday, the fans will have the opportunity of seeing the teams close up when the popular boat parade passes through the streets of Augustów. It can be said that this is an Augustów specialty, because nowhere else during the Endurance World Championship do they hold a street parade. Then later in the evening at the Zygmunt August Market Square, during the official opening of the competition, all the teams will be presented.