Gladiator on a roll in 52 SUPER SERIES

Tony Langley’s British flagged Gladiator team overturned a three points deficit on the final day over the one and only race to win the 2024 Puerto Portals 52 SUPER SERIES Sailing Week title on August 28-September 1 in Mallorca, Spain. This is the team’s second consecutive victory which followed the 2024 Rolex TP52 World Championship they previously secured in Newport, RI.

Buoyed by the confidence of their worlds success and armed with a quick, well optimized boat they were able to get the better of Harm Müller-Spreer’s Platoon Aviation crew who came off second best – only losing on tie break to their British rivals – but most of all they will rue two penalties in consecutive races on the penultimate day of racing on the Bay of Palma.

To their credit, once again at this fourth regatta of the five which comprise the 2024 52 SUPER SERIES season, Gladiator started best of the fleet with Guillermo Parada on the helm which more often than not allowed them to execute their game plan.

Doug DeVos’s Quantum Racing powered by American Magic once more went into the final race of the final day with a fighting chance of their first regatta win together, also three points behind Platoon Aviation. But the German team bounced the Americans back to the left of them on the first beat and the USA team rounded the WW1 turn in 13th from 13th. They rallied to a seventh position to finish up third overall.

“It’s the first time it has come for me like this (winning two 52 SUPER SERIES regattas in a row) so it is a bit special, a new feeling,” said Guillermo Parada, Gladiator’s helm. “Obviously we are really pleased. It was a tough week. Palma has become a little bit trickier than I remember. We have known the island for many, many years and somehow it is changing over the last few years.”

Victor Diaz de Leon, Quantum Racing powered by American Magic skipper-tactician concluded, “We were so hoping to get the win overall but Gladiator and Platoon sailed really well. We had a little bit of a tough start in the middle of the line and Platoon did a good job of being patient to hurt us when we wanted to go right on a right favored track and it seemed everyone knew it. But I am really happy with how the team rallied and I am really happy how we came back to seventh.”

The final regatta is September 24-28 in Valencia, Spain.

Series details – YouTube – Facebook

Final Results:
1. GLADIATOR (GBR), Tony Langley, 3+1+10+5+1+2+6+10+2 = 40
2. PLATOON AVIATION (GER), Harm Müller-Spreer, 1+2+4+1+3+9+9+6+5 = 40
3. QUANTUM RACING POWERED BY AMERICAN MAGIC (USA), Doug DeVos, 4+6+3+12+2+3+3+5+7 = 45
4. PHOENIX (RSA), Hasso & Tina Plattner, 11+7+1+6+9+6+5+7+6 = 58
5. PAPREC (FRA), Jean-Luc Pethuguenin, 6+8+2+4+8+1+12+11+11 = 63
6. INTERLODGE (USA), Austin & Gwen Fragomen, 8+3+9+3+4+7+11+13+4+3(PEN) = 65
7. ALEGRE (GBR), Andy Soriano, 10+10+5+8+12+4+7+2+8 = 66
8. SLED (USA), Takashi Okura, 5+9+8+11+10+10+1+4+9 = 67
9. ALPHA+ (HKG), Shawn & Tina Kang, 12+4+7+13+7+5+8+1+12 = 69
10. CRIOULA (BRA), Eduardo & Renato Plass, 2+12+13+7+13+8+4+8+3 = 70
11. PROVEZZA (TUR), Ergin Imre, 7+13+12+2+6+13+2+3+13 = 71
12. VAYU (THA), Whitcraft Family, 9+5+11+9+5+12+10+9+10 = 80
13. TEASING MACHINE (FRA), Eric De Turckheim, 13+11+6+10+11+11+13+12+1+1(PEN) = 89

2024 52 SUPER SERIES OVERALL (after four events)
1. GLADIATOR (GBR), Tony Langley, 37+35+40+40 = 152
2. QUANTUM RACING POWERED BY AMERICAN MAGIC (USA), Doug DeVos, 27+36+52+45 = 160
3. PLATOON AVIATION (GER), Harm Müller-Spreer, 45+47+48+40 = 180
4. SLED (USA), Takashi Okura, 33+42+46+67 = 188
5. ALEGRE (GBR), Andy Soriano, 37+44+51+66 = 198
6. INTERLODGE (USA), Austin & Gwen Fragomen, 32+49+73+65 = 219
7. PAPREC (FRA), Jean-Luc Pethuguenin, 49+51+62+63 = 225
8. ALPHA+ (HKG), Shawn & Tina Kang, 51+58+50+69 = 228
9. VAYU (THA), Whitcraft Family, 51+33+65+80 = 229
10. PHOENIX (RSA), Hasso & Tina Plattner, 77+46+65+58 = 246
11. PROVEZZA (TUR), Ergin Imre, 25+88+110+71 = 294
12. CRIOULA (BRA), Eduardo & Renato Plass, 77+88+110+70 = 345
13. TEASING MACHINE (FRA), Eric De Turckheim, 77+88+110+89 = 364

2024 Schedule
April 28-May 2: Palma, Mallorca, Spain
June 11-16: Newport, RI, USA
July 16-20: TP52 World Championship – Newport RI, USA
August 28-September 1: Puerto Portals, Mallorca, Spain
September 24-28: Valencia, Spain

Source: 52SS