Mette Bjerknæs started racing 10 years ago in a Tohatsu powered mono hull, early next month she will return to her racing roots when she will be behind the wheel of a John Guille designed boat with Japanese power in Macau.

Bjerknæs, is the first of twelve competitors to be announced that will be taking part in the Asia Powerboat Championship, the fledgling series that held its first event in Hong Kong last November.

Although most spectators will now be familiar with watching the 30 year-old from Drøbak, Norway racing F2 circuit catamarans, back in 2009 she was just starting out in a mono hull:

I did a few races in the V-25 class back then, when I raced a Winrace with a 25hp Tohatsu.

I really enjoyed it, driving a mono hull is great fun!

The English School Teacher quickly progressed from V-25 to F4 and into F2 for 2010, when she competed in the Scandinavian series.

Bjerknæ smade her debut in the UIM F2 World Championship in 2011

She made her debut in the UIM F2 World Championship in 2011 and has competed every season since:

I’m looking forward to racing in Macau, it’s been a long winter in Norway again and I can’t wait to get back out on the water again.

I’m obviously keeping an eye on the UIM F2 calendar and am not really sure what the first race will be at the moment.

This year, Bjerknæs will enjoy having the support of her racing partners, Motul, Bruvik, Seaside Boat and Bad & Flis:

They really help to keep me out their racing, and I can’t thank them enough for their support.

Early speculation suggests that water in Macau will be challenging, however Bjerknæs has plenty of experience of the ‘rough and tumble’ in France.

I competed in the 24 Heures motonautique de Rouen for 4 years, the highlight of course was to become the first female UIM Endurance World Champion in Circuit Class 2 in 2014.

Bjerknæs will be racing in a similar hull in Macau

That was in cat, on May 3-5 it’s back to a mono in the Far East!