Start of the 52 Super Series season off Baiona: "Quantum" wins ahead of "Platoon" and Plattner's "Phoenix"

American owner and helmsman Doug DeVos has led his Quantum Racing team to overall victory at the Abanca 52 Super Series Baiona Sailing Week. At the start of the tenth anniversary season of the leading international monohull professional series, the team came out on top against two teams of German owners. The "Platoon", steered by owner Harm Müller-Spreer, narrowly won the duel with Hasso and Tina Plattner's "Phoenix" by just one point after eight races.

"It's great to win. But the exciting thing is that we still have so much room to improve. There are a lot of races ahead of us now this season and this fleet is really, really good," said the victorious Quantum tactician Terry Hutchinson. Team Quantum Racing has already won the 52 Super Series four times since its premiere in 2012. Doug DeVos' racing team with America's Cup figurehead Terry Hutchinson is once again one of the top favourites this year. While SailGP series winner and sailing jack-of-all-trades Tom Slingsby has just signed with the Americans in the America's Cup and will be working with Hutchinson, the Australian with an Australian and American passport will be competing in the 52 Super Series as a "Phoenix" tactician for Hasso and Tina Plattner and thus against Hutchinson.

On the courses off the rugged Atlantic coast of Galicia in north-west Spain, the Plattner team with Slingsby showed what the crew could be capable of this season with two race wins this weekend. In the final results, however, the "Phoenix" team was not only beaten by Quantum Racing at the start, but also by Harm Müller-Spreer's "Platoon" crew. The very different wind conditions of seven to 24 knots in the eight races in the picturesque bay of Ría de Vigo demanded all-round qualities. The first four days were sailed in northerly winds, while the showdown on the final day saw the sailors having to deal with a challenging sea breeze from the south-west for the first time.

Two fifth places weighed too heavily in the final tally for Harm Müller-Spreer's co-favoured "Platoon" crew in the battle for victory. Victor Marino, Runners Controller on "Platoon" and at home in Baiona, said: "Second is a good result, even if it doesn't always feel like it because we always want to win. But Quantum sailed really strong. If we could be in the top three at every event this season, we would certainly have a chance of winning the title. The conditions were perfect, the open courses offered opportunities for everyone. I think Baiona is a place we will return to."

Tom Slingsby was also largely satisfied with the "Phoenix" opener and third place and is looking forward to next month's TP52 World Championship off Cascais: "Unfortunately we made a few too many mistakes here on one day and that hurt us in the end. We lost a lot of points on that day, but overall I'm happy with the way we sailed on four of the five days. But we showed that we are in the hunt. This is a beautiful place, but the course is tough. You have to keep your wits about you. Sometimes the corners worked, sometimes the centre worked. They were very challenging courses, but hopefully we'll be back here soon."