Tomlinson To Throttle Abu Dhabi’s MTI Cat

That his planned ride—the 48-foot Marine Technology Inc.Gasse catamaran—for the upcoming Super Boat International Offshore World Championships in Key West, Fla., is up for sale hasn’t stopped ace throttleman John Tomlinson from finding something to do in the meantime. This evening, Tomlinson, who co-owns TNT Custom Marine of Miami with Mike Thomas, will catch a flight to Italy for this weekend’s Union Internationale Motonautique Class 1 offshore races in Terracina. Tomlinson will throttle the Abu Dhabi team’s 48-foot MTI cat. (The driver for the cat this weekend has yet to be finalized.)

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John Tomlinson: “Our goal is to be the best we can be out there in both races.”

In Terracina, the 48-footer will be back in action for the first time since it rolled in the second race during its debut in Ibiza, Spain. (Read the story.) The shop owned by famed Italian powerboat racer Guido Capellini handled the glass work to repair the cat, while TNT sent three riggers and MTI sent one more to re-rig the boat. Redoing the rigging, Tomlinson said, took eight days.

“I have full confidence in the boat that everything is going to be fine,” he said. “It’s like having a fresh boat all over again. My goal is to go out there and make the boat the best it can be.”

The Terracina Class 1 event actually consists of pole position trials and actual races on Saturday and Sunday—it counts as events No. 3 and No. 4 on the UIM Class 1 2014 schedule.

“Our goal is to be the best we can be out there in both races,” said Tomlinson. “If we walked away with podium finishes everybody would be pleased and we hope we can run up front, but we’ll see.”

As for whether or not he will return to a different ride in the Key West Worlds in early November, Tomlinson said he is “still waiting for confirmation” but declined to elaborate.

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Captured here during testing in the United States, Abu Dhabi’s 48-foot MTI cat has been repaired and is ready for the upcoming UIM Class 1 event in Terracina, Italy.

Related Story: Driver and Throttleman Uninjured In MTI Class 1 Raceboat Crash