Bouchard takes third in Artemis Transat Class 40

by Event media on 30 May 2008 The Class40 fleet are beginning to roll into Marblehead in tight formation. Thierry Bouchard on Mistral Loisirs - Pole Sante ELIOR completed The Artemis Transat Class40 podium taking third place behind Boris Herrmann and Beluga Racer at 10:42:57 GMT this Thursday morning.

The 49 year-old Frenchman from Sanary-Sur-Mer completed the race in 17 days, 21 hours, 42 minutes and 57 seconds on board his one year-old Lombard-designed Akilaria 40 at an average speed of 6.8 knots.

Bouchard has held third place since Sunday 25 May after losing second place to Herrmann. Prior to dropping back a place, Mistral Loisirs - Pole Sante ELIOR and Beluga Racer traded second and third place for almost a week behind the leader, Giovanni Soldini and Telecom Italia.

The pair were separated by only a handful of miles from Monday 19 May until Day 15 of the race. Second placed Herrmann finished The Artemis Transat Race just under 24 hours behind Giovanni Soldini.

Next in should be Louis Duc in fourth place on Groupe Royer, he trails Mistral Loisirs – Pole Sante ELIOR by 21 miles: 'I had a bit of a light patch last night,' he told the race office at 09:00GMT, 'and I couldn’t catch Thierry Bouchard.'

Aged 25, Duc is the youngest skipper in the fleet and his enthusiasm throughout the race has been boundless: 'The boat is gliding along on her own . . . what a fantastic day for a race finish!'

Class 40 - Finishers and positions - DTF - DTL at 16:00 hrs 29 May

1 Telecom Italia - finished
2 Beluga Racer - finished
3 Mistral Loisirs - Pole Santé ELIOR - finished
4 Groupe Royer -1 0
5 Custo Pol 0.5 1.6
6 Fujifilm 15.8 16.9
7 40 Degrees 92.3 93.4
8 Prévoir Vie 112.4 113.4
9 Groupe Partouche 133.7 134.7
10 Clarke Offshore Racing 190.9 192