La Roche-Posay Racing Team gets down to business at second 38th America's Cup preliminary regatta
by K-Challenge 21 Sep 22:24 PDT
24-27 September 2026
AC40 La Roche-Posay Racing Team © Nicolas Touzé
Now based in Bagnoli, La Roche-Posay Racing Team will compete in the second preliminary regatta on the waters of Naples from 24 to 27 September, eight months before the start of the Louis Vuitton Cup.
Quentin Delapierre and Diego Botín will once again helm the French AC40, with Jason Saunders and Florian Trittel as trimmers. Enzo Balanger and Timothé Lapauw complete the line-up as reserves. This choice maintains continuity for the French team, which finished fourth overall and second among the Challengers behind Luna Rossa at the first preliminary regatta held last May.
Four months after Cagliari, La Roche-Posay Racing Team is retaining the same quartet for this second event in the 38th America's Cup cycle. In Sardinia, Quentin Delapierre, Diego Botín, Jason Saunders and Florian Trittel delivered an encouraging first performance, finishing just four points off the podium and improving steadily throughout the event. Their final day, which ended with a third and then a second place, demonstrated the group's ability to build momentum during competition.
Since then, the team has focused mainly on the AC75 in Lorient, before returning to its AC40 in Naples in early September for four days of training. This short, focused period was designed to restore familiar routines, regain the rhythm specific to the one-design boat and return to racing against other teams.
Smaller and lighter than the AC75, and equipped with an automatic flight control system, the AC40 calls for a different approach. The crew can devote more attention to the racing itself: the start, positioning, tactical decisions, precise manoeuvres and communication on board.
The priority during this four-day training block was to regain the technical level reached on the final day in Cagliari as quickly as possible. The French team was also able to sail against several of its future opponents. These valuable encounters helped the crew re-establish its shared reference points and gradually increase the intensity as the competition approaches.
Philippe Mourniac, coach of La Roche-Posay Racing Team: "After the Cagliari regatta, the AC40 came straight to Naples by road. As for the sailing team, we have alternated between AC75 training in Lorient and SailGP Grands Prix. Coming here for four days of training first allows us to get the crew back on the boat and find our bearings again. The aim was to return, by the end of this session, to the technical level we reached on the final day in Cagliari. We are getting to know the racecourse. In particular, we are sailing in south-westerly thermal breezes that can shift to the west, with winds of between 8 and 12 knots, conditions that could match some of the scenarios anticipated for 2027.
"But our immediate focus is very much the upcoming regatta. With all the teams present, there will be a great deal to learn, technically of course, but also in how we race, compete against the others and read these waters."
Nine AC40s on the start line and top-level competition
The second preliminary regatta will bring together nine AC40s representing six America's Cup teams. La Roche-Posay Racing Team will once again face the Defender, Emirates Team New Zealand, and the Challengers Luna Rossa, GB1 and Tudor Team Alinghi, as well as American Racing Challenger Team USA, making its first appearance at a preliminary regatta in this cycle.
A feature of the format will further expand the fleet: teams with two AC40s can enter their second one-design boat and entrust it to their Women & Youth squads. These crews will therefore compete in the same races and the same standings as the senior teams. In Naples, Emirates Team New Zealand, Luna Rossa and GB1 will each field two boats. La Roche-Posay Racing Team, Tudor Team Alinghi and the American team will each enter one.
In Cagliari last May, where the margins were extremely small, the French team demonstrated its ability to keep pace with the best teams. In Naples, the challenge will be to improve consistency further and reduce the errors that can immediately cost several places in such a closely contested format. Florian Trittel has also identified this priority: "Keeping our execution clean, without major mistakes", particularly in marginal, light-wind conditions and at the starts.
Although the results of these preliminary regattas will not count towards the later stages of the America's Cup, the competitive stakes are nonetheless real. Raced in one-design AC40s, these events allow the teams to compete on equal terms & assess their execution, established routines and ability to perform under the pressure of competition. They therefore provide important benchmarks for assessing the relative strengths of the teams and guiding their work ahead of the major events in 2027.
Building intensity and trusting instinct
Keeping the same crew should allow the quartet to take another step forward in its co-ordination.
At very high speeds, performance does not depend solely on each individual's command of the boat: the crew must know what everyone is observing, anticipate decisions and share essential information at the right moment. As their shared experience grows, some of this communication gradually becomes more intuitive, allowing the crew to become more precise and efficient.
After Cagliari and these further training days in Naples, the group now has stronger shared reference points. The task remains to put them into practice under the pressure of competition.
Quentin Delapierre, skipper and helmsman of La Roche-Posay Racing Team: "We have spent a lot of time on the AC75 in Lorient, so the first aim of these few days was to get back into our AC40 routines. But we can already feel the racing getting closer. We are back on the water with the other teams, racing together, and naturally the intensity is rising.
"Cagliari showed us just how closely matched this fleet was. There was very little between the boats, and some races were decided by the smallest of margins. The AC40 also allows us to be much more attacking than the AC75: it is lighter, flight control is automatic, and we can really try to put the boat exactly where we want it.
"For this regatta, the aim is to attack while enjoying ourselves, remain fully committed to our decisions and trust our established routines. We don't want to map out every aspect of our performance, but to retain an element of instinct, build the intensity and, ultimately, go all out."
Naples therefore provides another benchmark in La Roche-Posay Racing Team's development: three days of competition to measure the progress made since Cagliari, consolidate the quartet's routines and continue building the French team's momentum in the 38th America's Cup cycle.
A major relocation as the French team settles in Naples
Alongside the sailing programme, La Roche-Posay Racing Team's base is taking shape in Bagnoli, on the shores of the Bay of Naples, at the heart of the future 38th America's Cup village. The installation is an exceptional logistical operation: 1,320 m² of technical facilities, 440 m² of team base space and 330 m² dedicated to hospitality, largely made up of structures reused from the previous campaign in Barcelona.
Nearly 30 containers and around 40 transport journeys, including the AC75's abnormal-load convoy, are gradually bringing all the equipment to Italy. But this major move is also a human endeavour: some 110 staff and family members are relocating to Naples for several months. More than 70 properties, with over 100 bedrooms in total, have therefore been found close to the base.
For some families, the start of the school year has been the first tangible milestone in their new life in Naples, with seven children attending school locally.
Behind the sailing operation is a full-scale relocation, designed to enable an entire team to work and live in Naples in the best possible conditions.
Find out more about La Roche-Posay Racing Team's move to Naples