Rolex TP52 World Championship in Cascais - Day 3
by 52 Super Series 4 Jul 20:33 BST
1-6 July 2025
As the Rolex TP52 World Championship passed its midway point today in Cascais, Portugal it is the French underdogs on Paprec, led by ocean racing legend Loïck Peyron, which has taken the overall lead as the 2025 season's pinnacle event heads into what promises to be a fabulous weekend of big winds and seas on the Atlantic.
Jean-Luc Petithuguenin's crew, a few of whom are amateurs with normal 'day jobs', now narrowly overshadow American Magic Quantum Racing the mighty US team, seven times world champions, on 4th July, by two points with five races still to sail.
As Paprec led round the windward mark today in the one and only race to be sailed, going on to finish second behind the Plattner family's South African flagged Phoenix. American Magic Quantum Racing dropped to a sixth place finish - their worst score of the regatta so far - after having to take a penalty for an incident with Paprec on the first downwind.
Compared to the first two days which were raced in brisk NW'ly winds, the light SW'ly winds today were hard to read in grey, misty conditions and a tide line moving up the course added an extra layer of complexity for the afterguards.
Paprec and Phoenix started off the left end of the start line and gained a progressive advantage. Italian boat Alkedo baled out from the early right to the left and jumped from 10th to third. Down the first run the French lost out to Phoenix who went on to win comfortably.
It was a great, combined team effort from Phoenix but also a nice morale boosting debut in the red uniform for Brit Nic Asher who, after many years, parted company with Alegre and was today brought in mid regatta to bolster the Phoenix afterguard.
Asher smiled, "It was not the easiest day to join the Phoenix programme it was a bit tricky when we first went out and the wind was shifting about everywhere. But we executed and executed well. The whole team worked well. There was a massive current line in the middle of the course and so working that out was important. But overall it went well, they are a good group and it was super chilled on board. They made the job easy today."
The French team now need to hold on to their self-confidence and stick to repeating what they have been doing well so far, starting well, picking the right side of the course and making good manoeuvres.
Project manager Stephane Névé enthused, "It is incredible, unbelievable at the moment to be leading. Our owner Jean-Luc is due to arrive to sail for the weekend and now he is worried he might jinx us. We have good speed, we have faster downwind speed in the bigger winds. Today we were good upwind but not so special downwind. My heart is not feeling super great for the weekend but we will just focus on each race at a time, try and keep doing what we have been doing and see, there are still five more races to go!"
Whilst Paprec hold a wafer thin 2 points margin over benchmark Americans, there are 13 points now between second and the third positioned Italians on Alkedo. And then there are just seven points separating them from tenth. Five different teams have won the last five races and three teams have now led on consecutive days, Sled, American Magic Quantum Racing and now Paprec. The French have been on the podium at intermediate stages of the first two regattas of the season but missed out on the top three both occasions.
The tasty forecast for the final days promises a return to strong NW'lies, a perfect battleground to show off the incredible strength and depth of the world's leading grand prix monohull circuit fighting for the season's biggest title!
Rolex TP52 World Championship Cascais 2025 Provisional Leaderboard after Day 3:
1. Paprec (FRA), Jean-Luc Petithuguenin, 4+1+5+2+2 = 13pts
2. American Magic Quantum Racing (USA), Doug DeVos, 3+2+1+3+6 = 15pts
3. Alkedo Vitamina (ITA), Andrea Lacorte, 10+6+8+1+3 = 28pts
4. Sled (USA), Takashi Okura, 1+3+9+8+8 = 29pts
5. Phoenix (RSA), Tina & Hasso Plattner, 8+10+2+11+1 = 32pts
6. Alegre (GBR), Andy Soriano, 2+5+11+5+10 = 33pts
7. Gladiator (GBR), Tony Langley, 5+11+4+9+4 = 33pts
8. Vayu (THA), Whitcraft Family, 9+9+3+4+9 = 34pts
9. Platoon Aviation (GER), Harm Müller-Spreer, 11+4+6+6+7 = 34pts
10. Provezza (TUR), Ergin Imre, 6+7+10+7+5 = 35pts
11. Alpha+ (HKG), Shawn & Tina Kang, 7+8+7+10+11 = 43pts