Cascais remains a successful area for the Quantum Racing Team. Sailing under the US flag, Doug DeVos' crew took the crown in the Rolex TP52 World Championship this weekend off the Portuguese coast with their third consecutive regatta victory in the 52 Super Series. For the champion team, it is the fourth title win in the ten-year history of the 52 Super Series and the second in Cascais. For tactician Terry Hutchinson and the entire team, however, the latest world championship triumph harbours an emotional speciality, as it is the first they have won with their owner Doug DeVos at the wheel.
After four days of precise positioning poker on what was an unusually light wind area for Cascais for long stretches, the World Championship participants were only able to enjoy the typical north-westerly trade winds on the final day. With 20 to 22 knots of wind, they brought crisp sailing fun into play just in time for the showdown. The surf built up, providing an attractive backdrop and exciting sport not only for the fleet of nine world championship boats, but also for the spectators watching the live broadcast. In these conditions, Team Quantum Racing put the final exclamation mark behind its World Championship week.
Quantum tactician Terry Hutchinson said: "It's been very close throughout the series. You take the good with the bad. It's ironic that we started very well the last four days and not so well today. We were a bit conservative. It's hard here, because we all have the right thing in mind, but it's getting there that's difficult. I give good marks to 'Alegre' and 'Platoon'. We also won our last World Championship title here in Cascais. So this is something special for us. The great thing about this championship is that we won it with Doug on the boat - to be able to share that with him is great."
The forised Quantum Racing Team went into the final day with a three-point lead over Harm Müller-Spreer's "Platoon" crew. However, although the German team with the flag of the North German Regatta Association at the stern made better starts in both races, the Americans achieved the better results in both rounds. They won the series of ten races in total with just one win on the day, but with impressive consistency and very few drop-outs. In the leading monohull class of international sailing, which has become increasingly competitive over the years, the high quality of the teams means that even favourites often end up at the back of the pack. The "Platoon" crew caught their weakest result in this world championship series with seventh place in the last race of all races.
"Platoon" owner and helmsman Harm Müller-Spreer said: "We actually had a pretty good week, were a bit inconsistent, but actually sailed well. However, we simply had too many lapses. You simply have to say that Quantum was much better this week. You have to accept that. It was always about very, very few details. Today on the first cross, I think we were five metres short of crossing. We would have been clear first, but it just wasn't right by five metres. And that's very little in such a long regatta. But that's the way it is."
"Platoon" trimmer Ross Halcrow also paid tribute to the new champions who are taking over from "Sled": "The Quantum team deserved to win, they sailed a really good regatta. They were solid every day and across all days. We could have sailed better. It was very close today, we got off the start line well both times. It was a good week with really mixed conditions!"
The "Phoenix" team was beaten by the British "Alegre" by one point in the battle for third place. Tina and Hasso Plattner's team with skipper Toni Norris had also won a race during the course of the World Championships, but on one occasion only finished eighth.
This is also remarkable: Quantum Racing has always won its Rolex TP52 World Championship titles in even years: 2014, 2016, 2018 and now 2022. The World Championship planned for 2020 in South Africa had to be cancelled during the height of the coronavirus pandemic. The other World Cup winners were "Platoon" in 2017 and 2019, "Azzurra" in 2015 in Cascais, "Ràn" in 2013 in Miami and "Sled" in 2021. Click here for the Results of the Rolex TP52 World Championship and the season stands of the 52 Super Series (please click!).
