Oman Air wins GC32 Racing Tour Palma

Palma de Mallorca, Spain (August 3, 2019) – Oman Air have won the 38 Copa del Rey MAPFRE, third event of the 2019 GC32 Racing Tour, after fending off a final day challenge from arch-rivals Alinghi.

After being soundly beaten by Ernesto Bertarelli’s Swiss team at the GC32 World Championship in June, this was a sweet return to form for Adam Minoprio and his crew.

“Winning here was important to get back the confidence of the team,” said the New Zealand skipper, whose team is now on level points with Alinghi at the top of the 2019 GC32 Racing Tour leaderboard. “It’s going to be a very challenging series. We were very disappointed we didn’t have to make them work harder for the world title, so it’s good to get one over them here.”

While Alinghi was disappointed to have lost out on this occasion, skipper Arnaud Psarofaghis was still pleased with the team’s performance. “In the end the battle for this regatta was a two-boat race, and we managed to come back at Oman Air in the middle of the day with two race wins, but then they were very strong in the last two races. It’s fun racing against them and it’s going to be a battle all the way to the end of the season.”

Red Bull Sailing Team were the other crew to make it on to the Palma podium, which was ‘goal achieved’ for skipper Roman Hagara.

“The podium is what we wanted, and we’ve definitely made a step-up from the start of the season,” said the double Olympic Champion from Austria. “I’m proud of the consistent performance put in by the team here.” Long-time crewman on board Red Bull, Hans-Peter Steinacher still sees room for improvement before the end of the year. “With a new crew it is not always easy to fight against teams who have been sailing together for years. But it’s clear that we are on our way up.”

GC32 raced from July 31 to August 3 at Copa del Rey MAPFRE on a course immediately outside of Palma’s harbour.

Details about Copa del Rey MAPFRE: www.regatacopadelrey.com

Event Details – Results – Facebook – Twitter

2019 GC32 Racing Tour schedule
23-26 May: GC32 Villasimius Cup / Villasimius, Sardinia, Italy
27-30 June: GC32 World Championship / Lagos, Portugal
31 July-4 August: 38 Copa del Rey MAPFRE / Palma de Mallorca, Spain
11-15 September: GC32 Riva Cup / Riva del Garda, Italy
6-10 Nov: TBA

Source: GC32 Racing Tour