Villa Real de Santo António will host, starting in 2007, the 1st Race of the World Powerboat Formula 2000 Championships - for three consecutive years, according to an agreement which the local authority has just signed with the powerboat racing promoters and local organisation to make the project 'viable'.
The first race will take place on 28 and 29 April next year, with 24 boats disputing the result on the River Guadiana . It is the first time that this race will take place in Portugal.
According to Luís Gomes, the President of Vila Real Council, "This is a show of great skill, which will have great importance for the promotion of the 'potential' of the River Guadiana - and of Vila Real de Santo António - to be projected on an international level."
The protocol was signed between the Municipal Council, the World promotor, BP World, the Naval Association of the Guadiana and the Portuguese Powerboat Federation.
It is not yet known where exactly on the river this event will take place, whether it will comply with existing speed limits which are also currently impossible to establish from the local authorities on either side of the River Guadiana or if environmental protection organisations, such as Quercus and their Spanish counterparts, will step in with an audible protest, since the banks of the river are already under siege from the excessive washes from speeding - and inappropriately-designed for river navigation - power boats, be they commercial, official or pleasure craft.
There have already been incidents of serious risks to life suffered by small boat users of the river due to these dangerous wakes.
It is presumed that this will not be in the vicinity of the Castro Marim Nature Reserve, opposite the city of Ayamonte.
The UIM Powerboat P1 World Championships final heat will be held in September at Portimao, Algarve, over the next 3 years.
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