Marit Strømøy
Publisert
In 1989 Leif Strømøy and his daughter Marit was down in Tvedestrand for a national race. Father as a racer and daughter as a supporter. Leif had been racing since mid 60´s and was on the final stages of his racing career. During that raceweekend, Marit raced her first race by a coincident and was immediately hooked. Little did she know that nearly 30 years later she would still be racing.
Marit Strømøy, born i september 1976 in Sandefjord, Norway, started racing in the inshore class T-250 (now GT15). After three years in the class and numerous podium finishes she set a World Record and moved on to the S-550 class. S-550 is a catamaran class with a 550 ccm 2stroke engine and a topspeed of about 120 km/h. With support from the Tohatsu factory and her father as the main mechanic, she won the European Championship three times and the Nordic Championship two times.
In 1999 Marit moved up to the much faster F2 class and adapted quickly to the speed and G-forces of the F2 catamaran. In 2002 she competed in the President Cup in the United Arab Emirates and Qatar and did a great result. After being runner up in the Championship, Marit returned home and changed her old Seebold Catamaran into a Mollgaard. With the Mollgard she raced in the Scandinavian, World and European Series for several years and in 2007 she finished third in the European Championship after a series of many races. The same year she got to fulfill her longlived dream and raced her first F1 race for F1 Team Sweden.The dream had come reality and the year after she races for the Italian Rainbow Team, before she returned to Team Sweden the following two years.
From 2006-2009 she also took part in the 24 hours of Rouen, 8 hours of Egypt and 8 hours of Poland together with a french team in Class 2. The team climbed the podium of the legendary 24 hours of Rouen three times with Marit as a driver.
In 2010 and 2012 she raced in Offshore Class 1 in Brazil and China for Team Welmax and Team Sanya. Although she enjoyed her time in the big Offshore catamaran, Marit confirmed that her main goals were inside inshore and the F1 H20 World Championship.
In 2011 Marit made a partnership with F1 racer and mechanic Fabio Comparato. Fabio with a lifelong experience of racing, winning and with a background as a mechanic, became the new mentor and mechanic of Marit. With a new team, Team Nautica, owned by Paola Gillman, a new boat build by Baba Racing, Marit started the season with a bang. Taking the Pole Position in Portimao, Portugal as the first female racer in any topclass in International Motorsport, she became historic. After leading the race for 15 laps she collided with another boat and both went out of the race in a dramatic crash. The race was over, but the dream had just begun.
In 2015 Andrea Colombo, Marit´s husband, finally started working with Marit also in F1, and they had a great season together with mechanic Fabio Comparato, radioman through many years Jean Claude Goy and Craig Bailey, the team's new Australian mechanic the team. 18th of December 2015 Marit's lifelong dream came through when she won her first F1 H2O World Championship race in Sharjah, UAE. With the victory she was 4th overall in the World Championship.
in 2018 Marit is racing in the F1 H2O Championship for the 11th year. With her team of Fabio Comparato, Jean Claude Goy, Craig Bailey, Andrea Colombo, they are hoping for a great year of racing.