52 Super Series off Menorca: The comeback of Harm Müller-Spreer's "Platoon" crew

A fine comeback for "Platoon" off Menorca: the crew led by owner and helmsman Harm Müller-Spreer has won the Royal Cup of the 52 Super Series. The team flying the German flag was able to prevail in these waters for the second time in a row. Second and third place went to Andrés Soriano's British "Alegre" and Doug de Vos' American Quantum Racing Team.

Although "Alegre" had started the series with three daily victories, the team led by Hamburg entrepreneur Harm Müller-Spreer from the Norddeutscher Regatta Verein managed to win the series with consistency after just five races. The last two race days had to be cancelled due to a lack of wind. With their performance, the "Platoon" crew also made up for the three red flag penalties that had left them in sixth place off Mallorca just a few weeks ago. With the victory off Menorca, "Platoon" has also taken the lead in the closely contested season standings, level on points with "Quantum Racing". Following the cancellation of the season opener off Valencia due to coronavirus, the Rolex TP52 World Championship in the first week of November now remains as a furious season finale.

Tactician John Kostecki, strategist Jordi Calafat and the team led by Harm Müller-Spreer at the helm won through with 4th, 3rd, 6th, 4th and 1st place, making the skipper happy. Harm Müller-Spreer said: "It's so nice to win. It's a bit strange to win here for the second time in a row. We had such different conditions. This is especially true for the two days with lots of wind and big waves. Those were particularly tough conditions. It's so close in this class! At least five boats could have won here. It's really, really tough if you make even the slightest mistake. It's also really close in the overall classification. There are certainly five boats in contention for the season championship."

The trophy won is not just any prize: it was King Harald of Norway, Italian Admiral's Cup legend Pasquale Landolfi, Admiral's Cup winner Willi Illbruck and Yannis Costopoulos who once donated the trophy designed by Bulgari for IMS50 regattas. Today, the prize marks the class's bow to its history and predecessors and at the same time the reward for the current best. Like Harm Müller-Spreer's crew, Doug de Vos' team on "Quantum Racing" also wants to be number one again. Terry Hutchinson said before the World Championship at the start of the winter: "We've had some really bad days here followed by good ones. We now have to shake off these bad days with a view to the World Championship." This can also be interpreted as a challenge to the "Platoon" rivals. Click here for the results from Menorca and the interim results in the season standings (please click!).