WMRT Match Cup Sweden – Stena Sailing Team announced

by Fabian Bengtsson on 7 Mar 2013 The Stena Sphere recently announced its continued support for the competition Swedish Match Cup Sweden in Marstrand for the next three years. Stena is now expanding its involvement still further prior to this summer’s match races by taking on the role of title sponsor for Johnie Berntsson and his team, who will compete under the name of Stena Sailing Team.

Berntsson Sailing Team, all of whose members come from the Gothenburg area, finished in sixth place in last year’s Stena Match Cup Sweden. Currently, the team is ranked number nine in the world and its merits include Gold in the Swedish Championship, Gold in the Nordic Championship, Gold in the European Championship and a bronze medal in the Match Racing World Championship. On Tuesday, the Alpari World Match Racing Tour announced that Johnie Berntsson is one of eight skippers to be allotted a Tour Card for 2013. This means that the team has secured an invitation to all the events in the Alpari World Racing Tour before the finals in Malaysia.

'The collaboration with Stena will make it possible for us to make a serious commitment to sailing and take yet another step towards the goal of being professional sailors. In the future, we could focus even more on sailing. Now, we are looking forward to the summer’s match racing in Marstrand and working hard to achieve even better results than last year', says a pleased Johnie Berntsson, the Stena Sailing Team’s skipper.

The team will consist of:
Johnie Berntsson, skipper
Johan Barne, tactics
Oscar Angervall, trim
Martin Berntsson, pit
Björn Lundgren, foredeck

'For Stena with its roots in Gothenburg, it feels natural to collaborate with a sailing team from the West Coast. Johnie Berntsson and his team have a sense of commitment and drive that makes us proud to give them our support. Stena usually invests in winning concepts in every context and we are convinced that Johnie Berntsson together with Stena can go all the way to world number one. We are looking forward to an exciting sailing summer with Stena Sailing Team and Johnie ', says Lovisa Andersson, Marketing, Stena Metall, in a comment.

Stena Match Cup Sweden is one of the largest public sports events in Sweden and continues to grow from both a sporting and a media perspective. Since the first time 18 years ago, the event has become a highlight on the Swedish West Coast. Stena Match Cup Sweden is one of several events in the Alpari World Match Racing tour and many the sport’s biggest names have participated since the start in 1994.

The Stena Sphere is one of Sweden’s biggest family-owned groups of companies with businesses worldwide. The Stena Sphere’s focus lies on ferry routes, shipping, offshore drilling, property, finance, Adactum plus recycling, environmental services and trading. The Stena Sphere has more than 20,000 employees and generated total revenues of SEK 60 billion. www.stena.com

Stena Match Cup Sweden is one of the largest public events in Sweden and is one of eight events in the men’s World Match Racing Tour. The weeklong event is held at the beginning of July every summer in Marstrand and attracts around 115,000 visitors every Stena Match Cup Sweden website