French-flagged sailing team to make Extreme Sailing Series debut

by Extreme Sailing Series on 27 Sep 2016 The French-flagged sailing team Norauto powered by Groupama Team France, will join the Extreme Sailing Series™ fleet at the penultimate event of the year in Lisbon – the first of two wildcard entries to be announced this week. Nine world-class teams and the fleet of hydro-foiling GC32s will make their debut in Portugal’s capital city from 6-9 October.

As official partner of the French America’s Cup team, the Norauto crew will include a stellar line up dominated by Groupama Team France sailors. 30-year old Kiwi Adam Minoprio, a World Match racing champion with previous experience of the Extreme Sailing Series, will lead the team, and he is looking forward to the challenge.

“It is great to be invited and it is going to be really cool to go and race against the other fleet of GC32s,” commented Minoprio. “It is going to be on their course, on their terms and it’s going to be quite difficult for us, but I am really looking forward to taking up the challenge of racing the top teams.”

Speaking about Lisbon as a venue, Minoprio continued: “It is a great place, I think the venue is going to be awesome. The river is massive there and the sea breeze comes in like clockwork.”

Arriving fresh from victory on their GC32 in Sotogrande (Spain), the team of experienced foilers is expected to get competitive quickly on Lisbon’s stadium racetrack – particularly as four of the five crew have raced in the Extreme Sailing Series previously.

Bringing bags of high-performance credentials are some of France’s top multihull sailors. Arnaud Jarlegan and Matthieu Vandame are both F18 world champions. 32-year old Nicolas Heintz is a European match racing champion with heaps of experience in the GC32, while Thierry Douillard, formerly of SAP Extreme Sailing Team, has two full Extreme Sailing Series seasons under his belt.

The second wildcard entry will be announced in the coming days – another brand new team to join the Extreme Sailing Series line-up.

Four days of racing are planned in Lisbon, including a longer coastal race combined with the Series’ signature Stadium Racing format. The action begins on Thursday October 6th.

Norauto (FRA) crew list – Extreme Sailing Series™ Act 7, Lisbon, Portugal
Skipper/Helm: Adam Minoprio (NZL)
Mainsail Trimmer: Arnaud Jarlegan (FRA)
Trimmer: Thierry Douillard (FRA)
Trimmer: Matthieu Vandame (FRA)
Bowman: Nicolas Heintz (FRA)