Strømøy Racing

Leif Strømøy raced for about 30 years in different classes of inshore powerboatracing. Always on the hunt for more speed and more victories, Leif was one of the first in Norway to compete with a catamaran in the early 70´s. With his mechanical background, curiosity and creativity he was always a step ahead of his competitors and had a remarkable eye for details. This led podiumfinshes both in Norway and around Europe and one of his proudest moments was competing in the legendary 6 hours of Paris in the 70´s. He loved his black Mercury engines and in addition to being a racer, he and his wife Kirsten had a succesful workshop in Sandefjord where they sold and repaired boats and engines.

In 1989 his daughter Marit started racing. She raced the first three seasons in T-250 (GT15) untill she started racing in the catamaran-class S-550 in 1993. After three European Championship titles with her father Leif as the main mechanic, they were both hungry for more and in 1999 Marit raced her first race in F2. Finally back with the Mercury engines, Marit quickly settled in the much faster F2 boat powered by a 200hp engine. One of their best moments in F2 was when Marit was second in the President Cup Series of the Middle East in 2002. Marit had her first big podium finish in one of the bigger classes, the Middle East had seen it's first female powerboat racer and the dream of F1 was starting to appear.

In 2007 after 5 years of good racing in F2, Marit hit the international scene of F1 H2O World Championship racing as the first woman in modern history. Racing for teams like F1 Team Sweden, Rainbow Team and Team Azerbaijan, Marit quickly learned the ups and down of F1 racing.

In 2009 Leif died suddenly from a heart failure. The Strømøy family had lost a husband and father, the society of Norwegian powerboatracing had lost a legend and Marit lost her biggest supporter.

The same year Marit met her future husband Andrea Colombo who was working as a mechanic in Team Abu Dhabi. Together they shaped the future of Strømøy Racing and the F1 career of Marit. In 2011 they 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 2012 Andrea and Marit formed a junior team in Norway. The first driver was Joakim Halvorsen from Langesund and he raced in GT15. The same class Marit started over 20 years earlier. The Junior Team got bigger by the years and now consist of five drivers in three different classes. You can read all about them here.

 
In 2013 Andrea built a F1 2seater. With the purpose of showing the sport and the team, Strømøy Racing is around on variuos events around Norway during the months of the summer. It's no secret that this is a source of income to the team as well as a great tool to show the fantastic thrill of powerboating to the "guy in the street".

In 2015 Andrea 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.

Strømøy Racing is still chasing dreams and want to thank all our sponsors, team members, racefans, partners, competitors and friends for all your support throughout the years.