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Volvo Ocean Race 2014/15 - Leg 9
Lorient- Gotenburg, 20.06.2015
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June 14, 2015
Team Alvimedica set up in-port series finale thriller
- Enright’s crew dominate for Lorient victory
- MAPFRE snatch second in the closing stages
- Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing still clear at the top of standings
- Follow the final Leg 9 on our fabulous App
LORIENT, France, June 14 - Team Alvimedica claimed their second Volvo Ocean Race in-port race series victory in Lorient, France, on Sunday after leaving their rivals trailing following a delayed start due to lack of wind.
The victory, which follows their triumph in the opening in-port race in Alicante eight months ago, bolsters the hopes of Charlie Enright’s crew to claim a much-coveted final podium finish in the series that concludes in Gothenburg, Sweden, on June 27.
The SCA In-Port Race Lorient victory will also lift their chances of a top-three finish in the overall standings. The series also acts as a tie-breaker for the tightly contested second and third places in the offshore competition that also finishes in Gothenburg the week after next.
A lack of breeze on the race track kept the fans in Lorient waiting some 30 minutes before the action started, but there was drama aplenty from the off.
MAPFRE (Iker Martínez/ESP) were forced to duck behind the rest of the seven-strong fleet as a premature start loomed and they immediately conceded seemingly costly ground on their rivals in such a key race.
Team Alvimedica had no such problems and led the boats on the windier right hand side of the course, giving them a good advantage in the chase to the first gate.
Team SCA (Sam Davies/GBR) and Team Vestas Wind (Chris Nicholson/AUS), first and second respectively in Leg 8 from Lisbon to Lorient, chose the lefthand side of the course and that stored up problems for them as they approached the first mark.
Both were ordered to take penalty turns. The all-women’s crew for apparently failing to give MAPFRE enough space (water) as they tacked around the mark, and Team Vestas Wind for commiting a similar offence against Team Brunel (Bouwe Bekking/NED).
The fleet split right and left on the next leg, while Team Alvimedica cruised untroubled away at the head of the fleet, building their lead to around 300 metres.
By the fourth leg, the young Turkish/American-backed crew continued to stretch away with Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing heading the chasing pack and quite happy to consolidate their position at the top of the overall in-port race standings if they could.
The result now was in no doubt in terms of who would win, but Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing, Team Brunel and Dongfeng Race Team were still separated by only metres as the fifth leg continued.
As the leg finished, Azzam and no less than three other boats converged on the mark with Team Brunel, MAPFRE and Dongfeng Race Team scrapping for second place with the Emirati boat.
Into the final leg, MAPFRE steamed through in the closing stages with a perfect angle and extra wind to snatch second from Walker’s crew and Dongfeng Race Team also bypassed the Emirati boat as the line approached, leaving them fourth.
Team SCA then won a three-way showdown for fifth, just ahead of Team Brunel with Team Vestas Wind taking seventh.
The results leave the in-port standings perfectly poised for the final deciding race in Gothenburg on June 27.
Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing, the overall event winners elect, are still top on 25 points, six clear of Team Brunel (31), with Team Alvimedica (32), Team SCA (33), MAPFRE (34) and Dongfeng Race Team (36) all with good chances of podium places.
Team Vestas Wind, who missed all the in-port races from Abu Dhabi to Newport, Rhode Island, because of their rebuild following a collision with a reef, are on 66 points.
Should Team Brunel win the final race in Gothenburg, they would lift the trophy at the expense of Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing since they would have the most individual victories in the series.
Walker, who is already assured of the main offshore trophy as long as his crew do not pick up a batch of penalty points in the final leg from Lorient to Gothenburg, was satisfied with Sunday’s performance.
“It was a good result for us,” he told reporters. “We were just trying to cover Team Brunel and to get enough points to get the series won. We’ve not quite done that, but we’re in a pretty good position.”
Enright then summed up: “We had a really, really good start which made it pretty easy to execute our game plan. We need another good result in Gothenburg to close the deal.”
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Editors' Notes: The Volvo Ocean Race
This edition of the Volvo Ocean Race is the 12th running of the 40-year-old event, which started in 1973 as the Whitbread Round the World Race.
The race started on October 4, 2014, day of the first In-Port Race in Alicante, Spain, and will finish with one last In-Port Race on June 27, 2015 in Gothenburg, the Swedish home of Volvo.
The 38,739-nautical mile route will include stopovers in Cape Town (South Africa), Abu Dhabi (UAE), Sanya (China), Auckland (New Zealand), Itajaí (Brazil), Newport (Rhode Island, US), Lisbon (Portugal) and Lorient (France). A 24-hour pit-stop in The Hague is scheduled between France and Sweden.
This and the next edition will be contested in a new high-performance boat, the Volvo Ocean 65, designed by Farr Yacht Design in the United States and built by a consortium of boatyards in the United Kingdom, France, Italy and Switzerland.
The new 65-foot (19.8-metre) monohull racing yachts will be strictly one-design and delivered “ready to sail”. The boats incorporate the latest video, satellite and content production facilities to further enhance the Onboard Reporter programme that has been in place since 2008-09.
Seven teams have been announced for the 12th edition. The all-female Team SCA are the first all-women's team to compete in the race since 2001-02. Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing are once again skippered by Britain's twice Olympic silver medallist Ian Walker. Dongfeng Race Team come from China and are backed by Dongfeng Commercial Vehicle. Team Brunel from the Netherlands are skippered by race veteran Bouwe Bekking. Team Alvimedica with a double flag (Turkey/USA) will be headed by Rhode Island's Charlie Enright. A Spanish team was announced in June and is backed by insurance giant MAPFRE. Denmark's Team Vestas was the final boat to be announced in August. Chris Nicholson will be skipper.
The previous Volvo Ocean Race started in October 2011 in Alicante and was won by Groupama sailing team, skippered by Frenchman Franck Cammas, in July 2012.
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