Grand prix monohull circuit fully charged

The 52 SUPER SERIES was established in 2012 as the world’s leading grand prix monohull yacht racing circuit, and when the 2025 season concluded, overall champion American Magic Quantum Racing (USA) was calling it quits.

The team had dominated the season, winning three of the five regattas including the TP52 World Championship. They added the 2025 title to wins in 2024, 2022, 2018, 2016, 2014, and 2013. Originally called Quantum Racing, the TP52 team had been formed in 2008 as a development platform for Quantum Sails.

While Quantum team owner Doug DeVos was retiring from the circuit he helped create, activity in 2026 remains fully charged with five regattas planned and three new teams among the 14 boats representing 11 different nations.

No Way Back
Experienced Dutch owner-driver Pieter Heerema purchased the 2025 season winning boat and the key assets of the American Magic Quantum Racing TP52 team and will race under the colors of his No Way Back which comprises most of the season championship and Rolex TP52 World Championship winning crew including tactician Terry Hutchinson. Italian navigator Michele Ivaldi returns to sail with a crew he knows well and the strategist at the first two events will be Morgan Larson.

Heerema has a long and successful record racing and was drawn immediately to the opportunity to take on the most successful 52 SUPER SERIES and challenge himself at the highest level in grand prix monohull sailboat racing. The team have already completed two solid training weeks out of Palma. Heerema is completely objective about his hopes and expectations this season.

“I’ve sailed many classes, but I believe that the TP52 at this moment in time is sort of the highest possibility in non-foiling boats,” Heerema said. “I think the level is extremely high, both crew work, tactical know-how. It is a super high level. And that’s a big challenge.

“I hope I can do this for a few more. years. It is a huge help (having bought the 2025 championship winning team) but I myself have a steep hill to climb. I have not been sailing really at high level competition for maybe four or five years, maybe since COVID. So I need to get into it.”

As an older owner, looking to put the icing on a sailing career which has included finishing the 2016 Vendée Globe solo race round the world, Heerema is taking what might be considered a fast-track approach.

Trinity Racing
At the other end of the spectrum, when it comes to grand prix racing experience, is the young Swedish entrepreneur Joakim Sundberg who had barely set foot in a grand prix racing boat two years ago. But the 47-year-old shares the same ambition as fellow-newcomer Heerema, getting to the top of the 52 SUPER SERIES fleet within the next few years.

To this end, he has just launched a brand new TP52 Trinity Racing, Botin designed, King Marine built, which has just been put in the water with sea trials this week. The crew is mainly Swedish including navigator Johan Barne, three times Olympian who sailed previously with Platoon and the Swedish Victory Challenge. Tactician is America’s Cup winner and many times 52 SUPER SERIES champion Ed Baird and they have Ross Halcrow as trimmer.

“We are rookies in the series, right?” admitted Sundberg. “So lots of us are new for the series. We haven’t been there before, but we have the backbone on the boat, Rossco and Ed, as well as other really experienced sailors. But the scenery, the series, the boat and so on are new for many of us. And I would say even though we are in this position, expectations are still high.

“We have a new boat. That’s should obviously have some benefits with that, having a stiffer boat, a boat that potentially could perform better under the right circumstances and with the right crew and on the right day, so to say. So, I think it’s a year that we’re going to take advantage of. But we are a new team and that’s something we recognize. But I think looking back to October on this, I still want to see us at least on the first half in the league.”

Caballo Loco
The third team are a Brazilian team which has been together for about four years. Their Caballo Loco is the former Phoenix which is co-owned by Mauro Dottori and Fabio Cotrim who will share the helming duties, alternating event by event. Tactician is Finn Gold Cup winner and three times Olympian Jorge Zarif. They recently trained with a top group of 52 SUPER SERIES boats out of Valencia and were pleased to find themselves very much in the mix.

“We arrived in Valencia thinking that we have to be careful and fight for meters,” shared Cotrim. “But really, we think we have to fight for centimeters now. We did a good job there, if you start well. We won two of the races and in two of the races were last. So, it was up or down.

“But the boat is fantastic. Phoenix is a super boat with the speed. It’s much more about the crew and the difference of learning the crossings with other boats. The boat is fast and we have been together for a few years as a crew so, yes, we lack the skills and the know-how of the boat and this kind of thing. But we are able to do the corners, the turns not so bad, because everyone knows what to do and this is a good thing.

“The big problem is time and distance with the speed of the boat and the size of the boat. On the first race, we were five meters behind the line and I was I was super happy. I was happy I thought we were good at five meters. But everyone else was less than one metre or just on the line. So in Portals (first event) I think if we don’t get last place, we’re already happy. And we like to be on this learning curve.”

Series information – YouTube – Facebook

2026 Teams
Alegre (GBR) – Andy Soriano
Alkedo (ITA) – Andrea Lacorte
Alpha + (HKG) – Shawn and Tina Kang
Caballo Loco (BRA) – Mauro Dottori / Fabio Cotrim
Gladiator (GBR) – Tony Langley
Paprec (FRA) – Jean-Luc Petithuguenin
Platoon (GER) – Harm Müller-Spreer
Provezza (TUR) – Ergin Imre
No Way Back (NED) – Pieter Heerema
Sled (USA) – Takashi Okura
Teasing Machine (FRA) – Eric de Turckheim
Trinity (SWE) – Joakim Sundberg
Vayu (THA) – – Whitcraft Family

2026 52 SUPER SERIES
May 4-9 – Mallorca, Spain
June 15-20 – Sardinia, Italy (World Championship)
July 20-25 – Canary Islands, Spain
August 24-29 – Canary Islands, Spain
October 5-10 – Valencia, Spain

The 52 SUPER SERIES was established in 2012 and is considered the world’s leading grand prix monohull yacht racing circuit. The circuit grew from the ashes of the TP52 MedCup which hit the stops in 2011 when the principal sponsor withdrew.

Source: 52SS