Rolex TP52 World Championship: World Champion! "Platoon" wins off Puerto Portals

Harm Müller-Spreer and his international team on "Platoon" have won the Rolex TP52 World Championship in the world's leading monohull circuit for the second time since 2017. Although the team had a thoroughly unsuccessful final day off Puerto Portals, finishing 8th and 9th individually, this could no longer thwart their triumph for two reasons: Firstly, the team led by Hamburg-based owner and helmsman Harm Müller-Spreer had performed outstandingly on the previous days - especially on Wednesday, when they scored two commanding daily victories in a row. On the other hand, the team on the rival "Azzurra" was unable to capitalise on the opportunities involuntarily conceded by the "Platoon" crew, falling short of its potential even on the last day with sixth and eighth place. In the end, the Hamburg-based project developer and investor Harm Müller-Spreer and his crew were just one point ahead of the rest of the field for their hard-earned, but all the sweeter second World Championship victory.

"We shot ourselves in the foot twice today," said Harm Müller-Spreer in the first interview shortly after the ninth and final race. But then the double world champion from the Norddeutscher Regatta Verein was able to rejoice: "We're happy now. This second title after 2017 is a great achievement." The Russian "Bronenosec Gazprom" sailed to third place in the Bay of Palma. The co-favourites on the Turkish "Provezza" were unlucky as their mast broke on the very first day. Although owner Ergin Imre's popular 52 Super Series team managed to get going again on the third day of racing, thanks in part to many offers of help from the competition, it was no longer possible to make up for four missed races. The team, which has recently been sailing with a strong upward performance curve, can at least console itself with the realisation that it was the best World Championship boat in the sum of the races it was able to compete in.

Whilst "Platoon" has cleared the World Championship title and the "Azzurra" crew was visibly frustrated at the last finish off Puerto Portals, the Italian-Argentinian team was still able to defend its - now somewhat diminished - lead in the season standings. Ahead of the finale in Sardinia in September, the Italians lead the way with 133 points ahead of "Platoon" (139 points) and the American team Quantum Racing (144 points), which had to settle for sixth place in the World Championship. The crews of Tina Plattner and her father Hasso Plattner on their yachts "Phoenix 12" and "Phoenix 11" sailed to seventh and eighth place in the most important international professional series for monohull yachts. The family doubles team only entered the series last year. At the start of the World Championships, Tina Plattner's team, with the only female helmsman in the male-dominated series, even took the lead for a day and received a lot of praise for it.