In an unlikely pairing, Jay Price and Shaun Torrente are set to team up for next week’s XCAT World Series race in Cascais, Portugal. Price, who is coming off a fifth-place finish in the second XCAT race of the season in Dubai alongside Italian driver Roberto Lo Piano, called up his former F1 H2O World Championship competitor earlier this week and asked him to come race for Altman Marine’s Lady Spain team.

The Altman Marine-sponsored Lady Spain will be occupied by two Americans for next week’s XCAT World Series third-round race.

Torrente, who has an open schedule after losing his F1 H2O ride when the Qatar Team dissolved following his season-opening win in Doha, Qatar (read the story), didn’t hesitate and is catching a flight on Monday morning from St. Louis—he’s racing Saturday and Sunday alongside Chris Schoenbohm in Schoenbohm’s Smart Marine Service Stock-class boat at the Lake Race on Lake of the Ozarks—to meet Price in New York and fly to straight to Portugal to begin testing on Tuesday.

The pairing comes a bit of a surprise as Torrente, a Florida native, was the driver who replaced Price, who hails from Louisiana, after he left the Qatar Team a few seasons back.

“I immediately thought of Shaun when we were looking for a new driver—Roberto is a good driver but we had a language barrier,” Price said. “Obviously I know Shaun is experienced and talented, I’ve raced against him for several years. He’s very competitive, too, which why is suggested him. Shaun and I have never been enemies but we’re not best friends either. What can I say? We were rivals and now we’re teammates.”

With Price on the throttles and Torrente at the wheel of the unique Victory Team-built boat that Price said is essentially a widened Doug Wright catamaran hull with a Victory deck, Price expects to be on the podium.

“Our team has some really good equipment and with Shaun’s help in the boat, we should be on the podium assuming all goes smoothly,” Price said.

Shaun Torrente (left) of Florida and Jay Price of Louisiana (right) will be racing together in Portugal next week.

Torrente, who joined Mike Seebold for an XCAT race in 2010, said he was surprised to hear from Price, but understands—and appreciates—Price’s desire to win and is going to Portugal for the same purpose. He also pointed out that he’s still focused on getting an F1 H2O deal done in time for the second race of the year in France at the end of this month.

“I’m excited to race XCAT with Jay; the competition in that series is excellent,” said Torrente, who raced in Portugal once before with F1 H2O and his day ended early in a spectacular crash with Sweden’s Marit Stromoy in 2011. “This is a great opportunity to race at a high level and hopefully learn a few things. My passion is Formula 1—racing at that level has been a dream since I was a kid so by no means am I giving up on my dream to win an F1 world championship.

“The one positive thing about the Qatar Team going away is that it has opened up my schedule to do other things like race with Chris and Jay,” he said. “It’s fun to race as other boats so I might as well take advantage of it while I can.”

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