UAE-based teams ready to challenge rivals at season-opening Indonesia GP

Hours, weeks and months of meticulous preparation will be put to the test this weekend when spectacular Lake Toba in deepest Sumatra hosts the 3rd Grand Prix of Indonesia, the opening round of the 2025 UIM FIH2O World Championship.

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A late start to the 2025 season will see five top class Grand Prix shoehorned into the last five months of the calendar year.

The race in Indonesia starts the action for the third successive season, although a switch to an August date should see slightly better weather conditions, particularly with the racing activity taking place in the mornings on the world's largest volcanic lake.

Following the Balige-based event this weekend, equipment will be shipped to China for a pair of back-to-back Grand Prix in Shanghai and Zhengzhou in early October.

There will then be a traditional finale to the championship in the Middle East with a new venue in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, hosting the penultimate round at the end of November and the UAE emirate of Sharjah hosting the traditional final round on Khaled Lagoon the week before Christmas.

Last week’s five-day aquabiking bonanza was an unmitigated success with the 16-year-old Indonesian Boanerges Ratag making history by being crowned as the youngest ever World Endurance Champion and Jasmiin Ypraus, Oliver Koch Hansen, François Medori and Roberto Mariani winning the Grand Prix in their respective categories.