Determined Torrente Vows To ‘Finish What We Started’ With F1H2O Return To Victory Team

Although the decorated boat racer decided to retire before the start of the 2024 season, three-time world champion Shaun Torrente of Florida announced a couple of weeks ago that he’d be returning to the Union Internationale Motonautique F1H2O World Championship in 2025 as a driver for the Dubai-based Victory Team. Upon his return from a week of testing and team-building overseas, Torrente said he is eager to start working toward a fourth world championship for his new team.

A reenergized Shaun Torrente is excited about racing the 2025 F1H2O world championship with the Dubai-based Victory Team. Photos courtesy F1H2O.
In a press release from F1H2O today, he discussed the excitement behind his return following a disappointing 2023 season that ended with a minor injury after a spectacular coming together with the Victory Team’s Ahmad Al-Fahim at the final round in Sharjah.
“It’s time to finish what we started in 2015,” said a determined Torrente, who raced with Victory Team in both F1H2O and the XCAT world championships from 2015 to 2017. “I believe when you do things for the right reasons, we end up where we are supposed to be.
“I’m just super excited to be coming back with all the guys who I started out with in the Victory Team,” he added. “It’s a great opportunity to finish what we started and to get the world championship that they have been working for. I hope I’m the last piece of the puzzle. We are going to work hard, like crazy. After a couple of days of testing, I’m very excited because the potential is there, for sure. The package they have is very good. I am looking forward to it.”
The 46-year-old who owns the parts and service center Shaun Torrente Racing in Southwest Florida joined the F1H2O racing circuit in 2007 after more than 15 years of racing Stateside in SST-45, SST-120 and F1/Champ series events. He worked his way through the ranks after a modest start that saw him finish pointless and equal 26th in the drivers’ championship in 2007 and then 11th for the following two seasons.

Although it didn’t last as long as expected, Shaun Torrente found some success during his first stint with Victory Team.
A switch to the Qatar Team saw a rapid-fire change in Torrente’s fortunes as he finished runner-up in the drivers’ championship to his then teammate Alex Carella in 2013. He finished third in 2014 and earned victory on Doha Bay for a second successive season. The Qatar Team disbanded after the American had taken a third successive win in Doha at the start of the 2015 campaign and so began a near three-year association with the Dubai-based Victory Team that netted third in the 2015 drivers’ championship and the runner-up spot with a Moore boat the following year.
Three retirements followed during a mixed 2017 season and then Torrente joined Team Abu Dhabi for the start of what would be several seasons of success before his departure at the end of 2023. He secured hard-fought world titles in 2018, 2019 and 2022 as he locked horns with the likes of Jonas Andersson, Erik Stark and his longtime teammate Thani Al-Qamzi.
Torrente has 11 Grand Prix wins to his credit and 11 pole positions out of 65 race starts in his career. His last victory came at San Nazzaro in 2022 and he hasn’t been on pole since his ill-fated Grand Prix of France in Mâcon in the summer of 2023.
Torrente is aiming to wipe those statistics off the record books when action resumes this season, but the sport has also developed in his absence. A young Canadian driver, Rusty Wyatt, burst on to the scene last season and nearly conquered Andersson at his first attempt, and every team has raised its game since the start of last year. Torrente will no longer be able to single out individual drivers as his rivals with several teams now capable of running for podium finishes.
Besides, Torrente’s former Team Abu Dhabi colleague Stark ran him close to the world title in 2018 and the pair have now switched teams. Stark showed during his last few Grand Prix races with the Victory Team in 2024 that he had the pace to win races and he managed to finish third in the drivers’ championship behind Andersson and Wyatt. Joining Team Abu Dhabi offers new challenges for the Swede, but Torrente heads into his second coming with the Victory Team knowing full well that it may well be his greatest challenge if he is to secure a fourth world championship this year.
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