Volvo Ocean Race Glory For Justin Slattery & Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing

23rd June 2015

#vor – Team Alvimedica's skipper Charlie Enright won the final offshore battle of the Volvo Ocean Race, but the overall trophy belonged firmly with his rival from Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing, Ian Walker with Cork's Justin Slatter onboard.

The Turkish/American boat led the tightly packed fleet home to crowded docks in the final stopover in Gothenburg, Sweden, to bring to a close 38,739 nautical miles (nm) and nine months of some of the closest racing ever witnessed in the 41-year-old offshore marathon.

The Team Alvimedica victory underlined, once more, the incredibly close nature of competition in the first event raced with strictly one-design Volvo Ocean 65 boats.

Only one team, Team Vestas Wind (Chris Nicholson/AUS), have failed to win a leg - and they missed five because of a boat rebuild.

Behind Enright, in fifth, Walker's boat, Azzam, slipped almost quietly into port, but the mile-wide smiles on all the crews' faces told their own story: We are the Champions!

It seals one of the greatest global sporting triumphs for the Gulf region and makes Walker the first British skipper to win the overall trophy.

The Chinese boat Dongfeng was forced to relinquish their hoped-for second place in the leg to Team Brunel (Bouwe Bekking/NED), whose finish secured the runners-up spot in the overall standings.

Despite not being able to hold off Spanish challengers, MAPFRE (Iker Martinez/ESP), for third position, Charles Caudrelier's crew still took the final place on the podium in third place overall - an incredible result with four Chinese rookie sailors in their ranks.

Leg 9 Finish positions:
1. Team Alvimedica, FINISHED - 04d 09h 00m 53s
2. Team Brunel, FINISHED - 04d 09h 24m 18s
3. MAPFRE, FINISHED - 04d 09h 29m 07s
4. Dongfeng Race Team, FINISHED - 04d 09h 31m 56s
5. Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing, FINISHED - 04d 10h 17m 41s
6. Team Vestas Wind, FINISHED - 04d 11h 30m 21s
7. Team SCA, FINISHED - 04d 11h 39m 05s

Final Overall Volvo Ocean Race Standings:
1. Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing 24 points
2. Team Brunel (Netherlands) 29
3. Dongfeng Race Team (China) 33
4= Team Alvimedica (Turkey/USA) 34
4= MAPFRE (Spain) 34
6. Team SCA (Sweden) 51
7. Team Vestas Wind (Denmark) 60

Published in Ocean Race

Tagged under

Volvo Ocean Race

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