MARTINI, maker of the leading vermouth and a best-selling Italian sparkling wine, is returning to competitive powerboat racing after nearly 20 years, creating the Official VECTOR MARTINI RACING team. The MARTINI racing stripes will once again be featured on the new Vector V40R powerboat in the highly prestigious – and considered to be the world’s toughest offshore endurance race – London to Monte-Carlo Venture Cup commencing on June 7th.

At select races, guests of MARTINI will enjoy the action from a fully configured V40R offshore racing powerboat as part of their MARTINI RACING weekend experience. The iconic MARTINI brand also recently announced its return to Formula 1 as title sponsor of the WILLIAMS MARTINI RACING Formula 1™ team.

The race will start on 7th June under the iconic Tower Bridge and travel 2,500 miles over the next two weeks, finishing in Monaco as part of the official opening weekend for the new Yacht Club de Monaco.

“Our relationship with powerboat racing started in 1973 and the new partnership with Vector creates an exciting new chapter in this history,” said Sandy Mayo, Global Category Director for MARTINI. “The V40R boat with its MARTINI Racing Stripes looks amazing and we are delighted to form VECTOR MARTINI RACING to participate in competitive offshore racing once again.”

”It is a tremendous honour for Vector to be the first British powerboat team to wear the famous MARTINI stripes and to bring the excitement of offshore endurance racing to a whole new global audience through this unique partnership with MARTINI Racing,” said Mal Crease, Founder and CEO, Vector.

Vector plans to attempt a series of prestigious nautical records later this year, including the famous Poole to Cherbourg cross channel World Record using the latest online technology to provide exciting adventure reality content to a new global audience.