The Ocean Race: GUYOT environnement Team Europe earn stunning In-Port victory in The Hague with 11th Hour Racing second

GUYOT environnement – Team Europe claimed a barnstorming win in The Hague on Tuesday for their first Ocean Race victory, while 11th Hour Racing Team tightened their grip on the first place in the In-Port standings.

Skipper Benjamin Dutroux oversaw a superb start as Team Europe hit the start line at top speed on the foils and edged ahead of 11th Hour to take a lead that they refused to relinquish in the two-lap race in fast and choppy conditions.

11th Hour couldn’t make up the gap to the leaders but by finishing as runners-up they extended their lead at the top of the In-Port standings – which act as a tie-breaker for the overall race leaderboard – by a point over Team Malizia, who came third.

Biotherm crossed the line in fourth, while Holcim-PRB had a disappointing day as they came over the line in last place.

GUYOT environnement – Team Europe started the day cut adrift in last place in the In-Port standings, having failed to start the last two races in Newport and Aarhus.

“It’s nice, so nice,” said Dutreux.

“Great team spirit. It was very much about pushing hard and concentrating. It’s great, I am happy to bring a win for all of the team.”

“We’re happy. We raced very calm, very clean,” said Annie Lush from the winning boat.

“It’s really nice to get a win. We know the others are pushing hard as these results really count for some of the other teams, so it’s good to know we can still be faster than them even when the others are pushing that hard.”

Dutreux and his crew clearly meant business as they raced into the lead from beginning of the race, one which they would hold onto right to the finish in a flawless performance.

And while it won’t mean much in terms of the overall standings, it will give the team a much-needed morale boost ahead of the final leg.

Meanwhile, 11th Hour Race has extended their leading position in this classification to three points ahead of second-placed Team Malizia.

Charlie Enright’s 11th Hour team was able to regain second place from Malizia just before the end of lap one.

Enright said: “That was super intense, it was windy and we had some serious jockeying for position at the start with Holcim-PRB.

“The start was in 20 knots, and by marks 1 and 2 it was nearly 25 knots! The whole team did a great job today.

“We got really close to the starting line but we were able to get over the top of Holcim-PRB and put it away early. Malizia got around us but we got them back and added another point on them on the scoreboard as well.”

In-Port Race – The Hague results

1. GUYOT environnement – Team Europe – 5 pts

2. 11th Hour Racing Team – 4 pts

3. Team Malizia – 3 pts

4. Biotherm – 2 pts

5. Team Holcim-PRB – 1 pt

Overall In-Port table

1. 11th Hour Racing Team – 24pts

2. Team Malizia – 21pts

3. Biotherm – 16pts

4. Holcim-PRB – 15pts

5. Guyot Environnement – Team Europe – 10pts

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