Maidstone’s Ben Jelf joining up with Portugal’s Duarte Benavente once again in the F1 Atlantic Team as F1H20 World Championship gets under way in Lake Toba, Indonesia

Maidstone powerboat racer Ben Jelf will once more mix it with top-class opposition when the F1H20 World Championship gets under way this week.

Jelf, who competed in the final two rounds of the 2022 season, is again joining Portugal’s Duarte Benavente in the F1 Atlantic Team as they looked to get the season off to a flying start in Lake Toba, Indonesia on February 24-26.

The 22-year-old is the youngest British racer to compete in the F1H2O World Championship, finishing 15th in his first race in Sharjah in December before working his way up to a seventh-place finish in race two.

“I’m so excited to able to race again with F1 Atlantic Team,” Jelf said. “There’s so many people to thank for the opportunity and I hope I can reward them with doing well.

“To say the competition is world class is an understatement - these are the very best drivers in the world so the competition is extremely tough.

“I’m still getting to grips with the boat and the team still have a lot of work to do, but we will do our best to get a good result and build from there for the rest of the season.

“We are currently looking for partners and sponsors to come aboard on this campaign to hopefully boost British sport once more on this world stage.”