Announced at a press reception in Cocoa Beach, Fla., during this weekend’s Super Boat International (SBI) race, the Qatar Marine Sports Federation (QMSF) and SBI reached an agreement to bring the offshore racing show to Qatar early next year.

SBI founder John Carbonell (left) and QMSF president Sheikh Hassan bin Jabor Al-Thani announce the Qatar Cup 2014 at Cocoa Beach in Florida on Saturday.“I am delighted to announce that we have reached this exciting new cooperation between the QMSF and SBI,” said Sheikh Hassan bin Jabor Al-Thani, QMSF president and driver of the new turbine-powered Spirit of Qatar catamaran from Mystic Powerboats that is set to debut at the next SBI race in Orange Beach, Ala. “Two of the key factors in the decision-making process were the strength in depth of SBI and the solid calendar that is in place for the 2013 racing season. This is just another example of the increased cooperation between Qatar and the USA in the powerboat-racing world. We have discussed the format of the Qatar Cup that we will run in Qatar in January and we will host boats racing in several of the top classes.”

Discussions regarding the specifics of the new event are ongoing, but Sheikh Hassan confirmed that prize money spread across the respective categories is set to be in the region of $400,000.

“We believe this is a great opportunity for SBI to showcase the strength of its international sanctioning power along with giving teams access to lucrative purses,” said John Carbonell, SBI founder and president. “Various Superboat classes will each have a $100,000 purse and teams will benefit from the QMSF shipping the race boats to Qatar after Key West.

“We are excited to be able to work alongside Sheikh Hassan in Qatar and we are also looking forward to his commitment to our race series this year,” Carbonell continued. “His loyalty to SBI is unprecedented with commitments to campaign two offshore powerboats—his 50-foot Mystic in the Turbine class and his repowered 44-foot MTI in the Superboat class.”

According to the release, the QMSF will take care of shipping all the boats to Qatar after the Key West World Championships in November. Sheikh Hassan was in Florida over the weekend with the Qatar Team and witnessed the fifth-place finish in the Superboat class by Mohammed Al-Nasser and Ali Al-Neama.

For complete results from the Space Coast Super Boat Grand Prix in Cocoa Beach, click here.

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