RIVA CLASSICHE RACES WITH GUIDO CAPPELLINI IN THE RAID PAVIA-VENEZIA 2025

The Riva Classiche logo takes pride of place on the Team Abu Dhabi boat as it sets the new record.

The Pavia-Venice 2025 International Powerboat Raid has ended with a feat that will go down in international powerboat history: Guido Cappellini, at the helm of the Team Abu Dhabi boat, set a new record for the world’s longest race on inland waterways, with a time of 1 hour, 41 minutes and 45 seconds at an average speed of 207.26 km/h.

In this great sporting adventure, Riva Classiche raced with the ten-time Formula 1 Powerboat world champion along the entire route from Pavia to the Venice Lagoon, covering over 400 kilometres on inland waterways including the Ticino and Po rivers.

Cappellini beated the previous record (1 hour, 44 minutes and 45 seconds at an average speed of 203.34 km/h) set in 2005 by Dino Zantelli. Before him, back in 1931, Serafino Riva set the record with Giuseppe Guerini in the outboard category at an average speed of 51.660 km/h, before going on to triumph again the following year with Luigi Calvi aboard the AZ powerboat designed at the Riva boatyard and fitted with an Elto 1000 cc engine.

The partnership between Riva and Cappellini, built on passion, innovation and tradition, dates back to 2005, the year the powerboat champion set the world water speed record (still undefeated to this day) on Lake Iseo, where the Riva shipyard is located in Sarnico. On June 2, twenty years later, a new record was set in the same spirit of daring, technical expertise and passion for the water.