Khalid Jasim Al Midfa, Ahmed Al Hosani, Scott Gillman and others pose for a picture.

Gulf Today, Sports Reporter

Sharjah International Marine Sports Club has confirmed that Gillman Racing team, the team of four-time UIM F1H2O World Champion Scott Gillman, has been taken over by the Emirate and will become the Sharjah Team starting from the 2024 season.

The American, who was World Champion in 1997, 2000, 2004 and 2006, will continue to act as the Team Manager in an exciting new operation owned by Sharjah Marine and representative team owner Ahmed Al Hosani, General Manager of the Sharjah International Marine Sports Club.

Canadian racer Rusty Wyatt has been signed as the team’s number one driver and will be making his F1H2O racing debut in Indonesia next month. The 28-year-old, from Innisfil in Ontario, an elevator technician by trade, Wyatt was the Canadian Boating Federation’s Rookie of the Year in the T-850 category in 2012 and was High Point champion in 2013 and 2015.

Top rookie in the Superleague Tour in 2016, he graduated to Formula 2 racing before breaking into powerboating stateside. Last year, he finished fourth in the American Powerboat Championship behind Terry Rinker, Dylan Anderson and Chris Rinker, winning the Loto Powerfest on the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri in the process.

Filip Roms has been retained as the team’s second driver. The 29-year-old finished eighth in last year’s Drivers’ Championship and has amassed 55 race starts since he burst on to the F1H2O racing scene in 2012. The Finnish, Espoo driver has two podium finishes to his name with his best result being runner-up to Alex Carella at the 2016 Grand Prix of France on Lac Leman in EÉvian.

The opening round of the 2024 UIM F1H2O World Championship takes place on spectacular Lake Toba on February 23-25. Toba Caldera is one of 20 geoparks in Indonesia and was recognised in 2020 as one of the UNESCO Global Geoparks.