Provezza repeats in 52 SUPER SERIES

Ergin Imré’s Provezza team won their second 52 SUPER SERIES title in a row when they overturned a nine point deficit over two final races to clinch the 2023 Scarlino Sailing Week held May 29-June 3 in Scarlino, Italy. This victory adds to their success three weeks ago in Saint Tropez, France.

Led by helm John Cutler, tactician Hamish Pepper, navigator Nacho Postigo and strategist Cole Parada, it was the same set of attributes which worked for them in Saint Tropez which made the difference on the Gulf of Follonica. They made good starts, stayed out of trouble, and let their good boatspeed work for them.

While Provezza finished strong with a 1,4 on the final day, Quantum Racing powered by American Magic could not capitalize on their early fourth place in Race 9, and after an incident with Alegre, dropped to a ninth which still left them with a one point margin over Provezza into the last race showdown. But Provezza started better and preserved their clear air through an exciting finale while the American flagged team could only finish with a sixth.

“We are a little disappointed that we couldn’t make it happen in the last race, but overall we are all really happy with the progress we’ve made,” said Quantum helm Harry Melges. “We were a lot better with the starts at this event, and looking forward to the next event, we are in the hunt. Still a lot to do with the starting, and probably coming into the top mark in a tough situation, we are not super confident with yet but we are so new, or the young guys are new to the program are.”

Thailand’s Whitcraft family on Vayu started the day second and had a tough final two races, not least by being over the start line in the last race but they finish third, on the podium for the first time, a remarkable result considering they started out with the 52 SUPER SERIES only two years ago.

Final results
1. Provezza (TUR), Ergin Imre, 6-2-6-2-4-6-1-10-1-4 = 42
2. Quantum Racing (USA), Doug DeVos, 5-1-3-10-1-1-5-2-9-6 = 43
3. Vayu (THA), Whitcraft Family, 3-6-7-1-2-3-4-4-10-8 = 48
4. Platoon (GER), Harm Müller-Spreer, 7-4-8-7-7-2-8-1-6-1 = 51
5. Sled (USA), Takashi Okura, 1-5-1-4-5-8-7-11-7-3 = 52
6. Interlodge (USA), Austin and Gwen Fragomen, 8-8-9-6-3-4-2-7-2-5 = 54
7. Alegre (GBR), Andy Soriano, 10-7-4-3-8-5-10(-2)-3-5-7 = 64
8. Gladiator (GBR), Tony Langley, 9-9-2-5(-1)-9-9-11-6-3-2 = 66
9. Phoenix (RSA), Hasso and Tina Plattner, 4-3-11-9-6-7-3-9-8-11 = 71
10. Paprec (FRA), Jean Luc Petithuguenin, 2-10-10-11-10-10-6-8-4-10 = 81
11. Alpha- (HKG), Shawn and Tina Kang, 11-11-5-8-11-11-9-5-11-9 = 91

Series information – Race details – Facebook

52 SUPER SERIES 2023 Schedule
May 2-7 – 52 SUPER SERIES Saint Tropez Sailing Week – Saint Tropez, France
May 29-June 3 – 52 SUPER SERIES Scarlino Sailing Week – Scarlino, Italy
July 4-9 – Menorca 52 SUPER SERIES Royal Cup & tbc TP52 Invitational – Menorca, Spain
August 21-26 – Rolex TP52 World Championship Barcelona – Barcelona, Spain
September 18-23 – Puerto Portals 52 SUPER SERIES Sailing Week – Puerto Portals, Spain

Source: 52 Super Series