Volvo Ocean Race: Is Yellow the new Red?

Cardiff, Wales (June 9, 2018) – With just two legs remaining in the Volvo Ocean Race, the battle for the overall prize is tighter than ever, with three teams fighting for first place and a fourth crew still in with a shot at the podium.

As the team’s prepare for the tomorrow afternoon start of Leg 10 sprint from Cardiff, Wales to Gothenburg, Sweden, Charles Caudrelier’s Donbgfeng Race Team has the advantage, sitting in pole position. The Chinese-flagged team holds a one point lead over Xabi Fernández’s MAPFRE, who had been leading for the majority of the race.

But just two points further back from the red boats is the hottest team in the race, Bouwe Bekking’s Team Brunel.

To put in context how dominant Bekking’s team has been over the past three legs, consider Brunel has scored 37 of the maximum 38 points available, compared to Dongfeng with 26 points and MAPFRE who have collected 20 points over that span.

Is yellow the new red?

“All the pressure is on these guys, they’re still ahead of us,” Bekking insisted. “We just have to beat them, like I said in Newport. Just beat the two red boats and then we’ll see what happens on the last leg. I think it will all come down to the last leg into The Hague.”

As much as he’ll be fighting for the prize, Bekking will need to keep one eye on his Dutch compatriots on team AkzoNobel, who could challenge for the podium with two strong results on the finishing legs.

For the leader, Charles Caudrelier, the emergence of Brunel as a threat has changed the way his team will approach Leg 10.

“Earlier in the race, maybe we played too much in match racing with MAPFRE,” Caudrelier conceded. “Now there is another boat in the game. We just have to go race and see what happens. Maybe after his leg we’ll have to think about controlling someone but right now, the lead is too small for that.”

Leg 10 is a 1,300-nautical mile sprint that takes the teams around the west coast of Ireland up to the northern tip of Scotland before heading east-southeast to Gothenburg, the home of Volvo.

Leg 10 of the Volvo Ocean Race starts at 1600 local time in Cardiff (1500 UTC) on June 10.

For crew lists… click here.

Race details – Tracker – Scoreboard – Race route – Facebook – YouTube

Overall Results (after 9 of 11 legs)
1. Dongfeng Race Team (CHN), Charles Caudrelier (FRA), 60 points
2. MAPFRE (ESP), Xabi Fernández (ESP), 59
3. Team Brunel (NED), Bouwe Bekking (NED), 57
4. Team AkzoNobel (NED), Simeon Tienpont (NED), 48
5. Vestas 11th Hour Racing (DEN/USA), Charlie Enright (USA), 36
6. Team Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag (HKG), David Witt (AUS), 29
7. Turn the Tide on Plastic (POR), Dee Caffari (GBR), 26

2017-18 Edition: Entered Teams – Skippers
• Team AkzoNobel (NED), Simeon Tienpont (NED)
• Dongfeng Race Team (CHN), Charles Caudrelier (FRA)
• MAPFRE (ESP), Xabi Fernández (ESP)
• Vestas 11th Hour Racing (DEN/USA), Charlie Enright (USA)
• Team Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag (HKG), David Witt (AUS)
• Turn the Tide on Plastic (POR), Dee Caffari (GBR)
• Team Brunel (NED), Bouwe Bekking (NED)

Background: Racing the one design Volvo Ocean 65, the 2017-18 Volvo Ocean Race begins in Alicante, Spain on October 22 2017 with the final finish in The Hague, Netherlands on June 30 2018. In total, the 11-leg race will visit 12 cities in six continents: Alicante, Lisbon, Cape Town, Melbourne, Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Auckland, Itajaí, Newport, Cardiff, Gothenburg, and The Hague. A maximum of eight teams will compete.

Source: Volvo Ocean Race