Fresh venues and exciting locations are on the cards for this year’s Union Internationale Motonautique XCAT World Series, according to an announcement released today by the World Professional Powerboat Association, promoters of the popular offshore racing series featuring twin-outboard-powered catamarans.

The Victory Team-backed duo of Nadir bin Hendi and Arif Al Zaffain drove the team’s XDubai boat to the 2015 Union Internationale Motonautique XCAT World Series overall championship. Photo courtesy XCAT World Series.

A new race site at the stunning glacial Lake Lugano in Switzerland will play host to one of this year’s seven rounds while XCAT action will also visit two venues in Asia in 2016. Last year saw XCAT visited both Portugal and Australia for the first time, with the Gold Coast event in August attracting a record number of television viewers in more than 750 million households.

The 2016 season will kick off in the Gulf of Oman in the United Arab Emirates city of Fujairah (April 7-8) before heading cross-country to Dubai for Round 2 the following weekend (April 15-16).

The festival of speed then heads to the breathtaking background of Switzerland for Round 3 in Lugano (June 4-5) before heading to Asia in September and October. Details of the Asian venues will be announced later but the races are scheduled for September 24-25 and October 8-9. The UAE capital, Abu Dhabi, will welcome back competing teams as they tackle the penultimate round of the Series from November 17-18 with the grand finale scheduled in Dubai for December 2-3.

“It is with great excitement and anticipation that we are announcing the XCAT calendar for 2016—what a fabulous year we have to look forward to,” said Dr. Saif Al Ketbi, president of the WPPA.

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