A provisional calendar has been unveiled for the 2009 Powerboat P1 World Championship season, with a host of new venues joining some returning old favourites. New race hosts Bahrain, Turkey, Sweden and Ireland will line up alongside well-established venues Malta, Portugal, Spain and Italy in what is planned to be an expanded seven-round schedule.

The season is set to start with a trip to Bahrain in the Middle East in late March, with a six-week break before the teams travel to Malta – which will celebrate its sixth anniversary on the Powerboat P1 calendar this year – for the second round of 2009.

New addition Turkey takes a mid-June summer slot as it adds to the expanding mix of countries that Powerboat P1 has visited in recent years, before the championship returns to Portugal in early July.

Another exciting new host nation – Sweden – takes the Powerboat P1 series into Scandinavia for the first time, while Spain (which hosted a highly successful first-ever event in 2008) or new venue Ireland will host the penultimate round of the season.

Italy – the country which launched the 2008 Powerboat P1 campaign – takes a new slot in the calendar as the season-finale.

Greece and France have been allocated slots as reserve venues.

Provisional 2009 Powerboat P1 calendar