America’s Cup World Series - Artemis official Match Racing Champion

by Artemis Racing on 2 Jul 2012 America’s Cup World Series 2011-12 racing drew to a close this afternoon in Newport, R.I. with the Match Racing finals and the Grand Finale fleet race.

Coutts’ win over Spithill in the Match Racing finals made Artemis Racing’s title official and Artemis was crowned Match Racing Champion for the 2011-2012 America’s Cup World Series at this evening’s prizegiving. An important milestone for the team, as they look ahead to the 34th America's Cup, the ultimate match race.

In the overall Series standings, Artemis Racing finished third with 82 points behind Emirates Team New Zealand (93 points) in second place and winners Oracle Team USA Spithill (102 points).

As with all ACWS events, the race for all the points is the Super Sunday fleet race. Challenging conditions today saw plenty of lead changes today, but it was Luna Rossa Piranha with Chris Draper at the helm who took the top prize. Artemis battled through the fleet but an incident at the second windward mark rounding, which later saw Oracle Team USA Coutts penalized, dealt a tough blow to the team which was difficult to recover from. Artemis finished seventh.

'Winning the ACWS Match Racing Championships is great, but I have to admit it is a little bit bittersweet after today’s race. It is a nice milestone for the team but we have a lot of work to do,' said Skipper Terry Hutchinson (USA). 'There are certain aspects of our programme that are really good and certain areas where we can improve. We have 14 months to do it and I’m looking forward to the challenge.'

Training and preparations for the 34th America’s Cup continue for Artemis Racing, meanwhile the next event is the RC44 Sweden Cup (18-22 July) in Marstrand followed by the America’s Cup World Series in San Francisco from 21-26 August.

ACWS Match Racing 2011 – 2012 Championship
Overall Standings (Points)
1 Artemis Racing (50)
2 Oracle Team USA Spithill (47)
3 Emirates Team New Zealand (41)
4 Oracle Team USA Coutts (39)
5 Energy Team (38)
6 Team Korea (33)
7 Luna Rossa - Piranha (26)
8T Luna Rossa - Swordfish (15)
8T China Team (15)

2011-12 America’s Cup World Series Overall Standings
Team (Country) Match – Fleet — Total?
1.Oracle Team USA Spithill (USA) 47 – 55 — 102
2.Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL) 41 – 52 — 93
3.Artemis Racing (SWE) 50 – 32 — 82
4.Energy Team (FRA) 38 – 36 — 74
5.Oracle Team USA Coutts (USA) 39 – 29 — 68
6.Team Korea (KOR) 33 – 33 — 66
7.Luna Rossa Piranha 26 – 26 — 52
8.Luna Rossa Swordfish 15 – 16 — 31
(After six of six scheduled events)

Artemis Racing website