Expectations are high in the Devil’s Isle Racing camp heading into the prestigious Rubis Around the Island Powerboat Race tomorrow.

The team are seeking to defend their S class and A class titles and also claim D class honours with a brand-new 22-foot monohull boat.

“We are going for a triple this year,” Devil’s Isle Racing part-owner and racer Andrew Cottingham told The Royal Gazette. “We are going to try and defend our titles and we have another boat in our team as well.

“Now we have A class entry, D class entry and an S class entry.”

Henry Talbot and co-pilot Cottingham seized S class honours and were the first boat to finish last year’s race competing in their catamaran.

“We haven’t had any competition up until the last race in Dockyard, so it’s been basically a season of practice for us,” Cottingham added.

“But Around the Island is always a big hype and so that’s what we guys are looking forward to.”

Cottingham’s fellow owners Shane Madeiros and Errin Butterfield are back to defend their A class title, while Shaki Easton and M’Kai Hodsoll are representing Devil’s Isle racing in D class for the first time.

Easton and Hodsoll are venturing somewhat into the unknown, having spent very little time acclimatising to their new boat.

“It’s untested and we’ve been working with what we’ve got right now,” Cottingham said.

“We put it over for the first time [on Friday], so it’s kind of last-minute. But we’re happy with how it’s running right now — it’s OK.

“We have a lot more work to do, but it will have to do for now.

“But our S class boat is always ready. That’s been tested and proven, so that one is ready to go and Shane and Errin are also all ready to go in the A class boat.”

Also defending their title are last year’s C class winners Chad Sutherland and Lee Wilson.

As well as the new BV class, a new champion will be crowned in the D class and B class this year, as the team of Mark Selley and Jordan Fletcher and Quincé Dowling and Tai Bean are not back to defend their titles.

Dowling and Bean have moved up to the C class, while Selley and Fletcher are not taking part at all.

This year’s event will again feature the junior class races and jet-ski race where Cleveland Maybury is attempting to defend his title.

Maybury has his work cut out, as he is also competing in the BV class along with co-pilot Joshua Thompson in the main event.