Platoon Aviation fly high with race win, Gladiator hold strong at Rolex TP52

Harm Müller-Spreer’s 2023 defending champions Platoon Aviation won the only race sailed at the Rolex TP52 World Championship off Newport, RI today. But while their first race victory of the event elevates them to fourth at the theoretical midpoint of the 10 race series, Tony Langley’s Gladiator team sit firm at the top of the leaderboard just a single point ahead of Andy Soriano’s Alegre.

After a long delay waiting for a suitable racing breeze to fill in, Platoon Aviation recognised the extra wind pressure on the right side of the first upwind. That was then augmented by a favourable shift in the direction of the breeze meaning Platoon Aviation had a solid lead by the windward mark. In the 6-9kts SWW’ly breeze they were chased valiantly by Alegre and Sled - which took second and third - but the lead of the German flagged team after the first run was already impregnable.

The first shift very much set the hierarchy and from there passing opportunities were rare.
“It is an important win for us after yesterday when we were in a bad situation so it helps, we were a lot better. We give ourselves a chance. We were not zeroes yesterday but not heroes today. It is a matter of keeping pushing hard to make the next five races proper.” Said Platoon Aviation’s tactician Vasco Vascotto, “Jordi Calafat our strategist went up the mast and saw more wind in the right and we knew the forecast maybe said the wind coming back in at 300 degrees and so we made that call to go right. And it worked. Luckily!”

Soriano’s Alegre keep the pressure on championship leaders Gladiator. Their second to the fifth place today of Langley’s crew means there is only one point in it as the ten boat fleet head into Friday whe three races are scheduled.

“We have to thank the race committee today, it was tough for them to stay and push for this race and in the end it was a good race. There was this big shift and so some teams were more lucky than others, but the consistency overall is so important. And from here on it is complicated, like the weather today was one of the most challenging as there were so many weather forecasts and none agreed and none were right. As so as it is going to be like this for the next few days we have to really stay focused and do our jobs well.” Francesco Mongelli, Alegre’s navigator highlighted.

Three races are planned for Friday

ROLEX TP52 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 2024 after five races
1. GLADIATOR (GBR), Tony Langley, 9+1+1+1+5 = 17
2. ALEGRE (GBR), Andy Soriano, 3+4+6+3+2 = 18
3. SLED (USA), Takashi Okura, 2+2+9+6+3 = 22
4. PLATOON AVIATION (GER), Harm Müller-Spreer, 7+3+4+9+1 = 24
5. VAYU (THA), Family Whitcraft, 1+7+2+8+10 = 28
6. ALPHA+ (HKG), Shawn and Tina Kang, 5+5+5+7+6 = 28
7. QUANTUM RACING POWERED BY AMERICAN MAGIC (USA), Doug DeVos, 6+10+3+2+8 = 29
8. PAPREC (FRA), Jean-Luc Petithuguenin, 4+8+8+5+9 = 34
9. PHOENIX (RSA), Hasso and Tina Plattner, 10+6+7+4+7 = 34
10. INTERLODGE (USA), Austin y Gwen Fragomen, 8+9+11(DNS)+11(DNS)+4 =43