52 Super Series: "Provezza" ahead of "Quantum", false start for "Platoon"

The 52 Super Series has kicked off its eleventh season off Saint-Tropez. Eleven teams met in the Mediterranean for the first summit of the year. The three best teams from the previous year emerged as favourites: The US team Quantum Racing, although its core team has now switched to partner team American Magic to prepare for the 2024 America's Cup and had to be replaced. They were joined by Hasso and Tina Plattner's "Phoenix" and Harm Müller-Spreer's TP52 "Platoon".

"Platoon" and "Phoenix" not in the top five

This powerful trio is also expected to do well in the 2023 season. But initially, things turned out quite differently in the rather light wind week ... The Turkish "Provezza" from Ergin Imre won ahead of Doug DeVo's Quantum Racing team and - particularly surprisingly - Tony Langley's "Gladiator". Last year, the British team came last in the season's championship.

Harm Müller-Spreer's successful team (Norddeutscher Regatta Verein), which is sailing the season with Italian tactician Vasco Vascotto as it did in the second half of last year, only managed seventh place. The "Platoon" crew had performed confidently in the three training races beforehand, achieving top-three results three times and expressing satisfaction with the modification of the keel during the winter.

Olympic champion Santi Lange takes on a difficult legacy

The 2022 runners-up opened the season in an even weaker position: "Phoenix" did not finish higher than ninth at the 52 Super Series guest appearance in Saint-Tropez with new tactician and Nacra 17 Olympic champion Santi Lange. The Argentinian is taking over from superstar Tom Slingsby, who sailed "Phoenix" last year but had to pull out this year due to scheduling conflicts with the SailGP and other challenges.

In France, the fact that six of the eleven participating teams were able to win at least one of the eight races spoke in favour of the balance in the 52 Super Series fleet. However, "Provezza" was not even the first boat to cross the finish line.

"Provezza" sailed to victory with consistency

Rather, the consistency of the Turkish TP52 in winds between five and 20 knots was decisive. After all, Ergin Imre's team started the final race on the final day level on points with the American champions from 2022. And after a botched start, the top favourites from Quantum Racing powered by American Magic had to concede to the team flying the Turkish flag.

With New Zealand's Olympic bronze medallist John Cutler at the helm and his compatriot Hamish Pepper as tactician, the "Provezza" crew remained focussed on the final day. Quantum Racing, on the other hand, dropped back to second place in the overall standings after the new afterguard around John Kostecki misinterpreted the light winds at the start. Tony Langley's "Gladiator", tied on points with "Quantum Racing", finished third in the tie-breaker. On the British boat, Argentinian tactician Guillermo Parada, four-time champion of the 52 Super Series, seems to be the catalyst for positive changes in the team.

We didn't win any races. But we didn't have any bad ones either." (Ergin Imre)

For Ergin Imre's team, it is the first regatta win in the 52 Super Series since 2019, and a winter of tweaks and changes seems to be paying off for his campaign. Imre smiled and said: "When I first came to Saint-Tropez 43 years ago, it was the most beautiful place in the world - and it still is today. But this was a light wind regatta and we had made changes over the winter. We changed the keel, we changed our sail trimmers, we got new sail designers. Everything seems to have worked. We didn't win any races, but we didn't have any bad ones either."

Founded in May 2012, the 52 Super Series is entering its eleventh season one year before the 37th America's Cup. Five events are planned. The highlight will be the Rolex TP52 World Championship from 21 to 26 August in Barcelona. The final of the season championship of the leading monohull series, which is also known as the "little sister of the America's Cup" due to its performance, will take place off Porto Portals from 18 September.

Click here for the highlights of the final day:

Click here for the results from the start of the new 52 Super Series season off Saint-Tropez.

To savour: The film celebrating the tenth anniversary of the 52 Super Series from 2022: