LUXURY super-yacht makers Sunseeker starts its campaign to win this year's prestigious P1 World offshore powerboat championship with the opening double-header in Italy.

Built in Poole, the Sunseeker Sales-backed XS Challenger monohull will be taking on the best in Europe in the Super Sport category at the start of the seven event, 14-race season.

At the helm for a third year is 29-year-old Supercar technician Andy Wilby from Fleet in Hampshire.

Son of team manager Mel Wilby, Andy gave the boat its debut in 2006 at the British Grand Prix steering the Sunseeker to third place, a result he repeated at the Belgian Grand Prix of the Sea.

"Last season we had all the right ingredients but the recipe wasn't quite right. Now, with a year's worth of experience, I am sure that we will make progress with the new boat," said Wilby who added that the longer endurance races are likely to be the strong point as the Sunseeker has proven reliability.

Joining him in the cockpit is the highly experienced Pete Little from Oxfordshire who has completed over 200 powerboat races and secured numerous World and European titles along the way.

Wilby is already confident that the Sunseeker Challenger will be a front runner: " You always go into a race believing that you can win and despite being a new team I think a top three finish is more than possible."

Although the pair have never driven together they say they are confident that they can quickly establish a rapport as they divide the race boat duties.

Since it competed last year, the XS Challenger, which is based on Sunseeker's sports cruising XS 2000, has been modified in the Poole workshops with special emphasis on saving weight on the GRP and Kevlar-constructed hull which was the boat's main weakness.

Modifications have also been made to improve the exhaust and drive systems.

The 38ft production-based racer is powered by two Fiat Powertrain Technologies diesel engines.

Each engine develops 480bhp which gives the boat a maximum speed of 85mph.

The season opening event in San Benedetto in Italy features a sprint race and a longer 75-mile endurance race. Other races take place in locations such as Tunisia, Portugal, Bahrain and Malta.

Also being revived in August is the famous Cowes-Torquay-Cowes race that will be a non-championship event.

This season the series has attracted television coverage that will be broadcast on Sky Sports and Motors TV to 70 countries and over 1,000-million viewers.

As well as the open-top SuperSport category, there is also an Evolution class for craft up to 43ft in length with unlimited speed which features several local entries including Poole's Richard Carr in Honeyparty and top lady racer Shelley Jory.

3:33pm Wednesday 7th May 2008

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