Volvo Ocean Race 2017/18 Dongfeng Race grapped the prize in a very closed finish just before Mapfre. First Volvo Ocean Race win for a chinese-flagged team ! - NAANII GLOBAL Luxury/Quality Family Lifestyle MAGAZINE 'en Vogue' - NAANII GLOBAL Quality & Luxury Family Lifestyle - MAGAZINE 'en Vogue'-

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In a dramatic finish Dongfeng Race Team has won the Volvo Ocean Race 2017-18 !


As Dongfeng Race Team navigator Pascal Bidégorry put it: "After more than 45,000 miles of racing, this is going to come down to the last 45 miles."  In reality, it looks like the winning margin might well be less than one mile.

In the closest finish in race history, Dongfeng Race Team has won the Volvo Ocean Race 2017-18.  Skipper Charles Caudrelier led his team to victory in the final 11th leg of the 45.000 mile race around the globe, with a final leg - a 970-mile sprint from Gothenburg, Sweden to The Hague.
It marked the first leg win for the team and it couldn't have come at a better time.

Three teams started Leg 11 of the race on Thursday in a dead heat on the overall leaderboard. The finishing order between MAPFRE, Team Brunel and Dongfeng Race Team at The Hague would determine their place on the overall race podium.

Each of those three teams led at various points on the leg and had their opportunities to grab the prize.
But it was Caudrelier and his team made a bold call on Saturday evening to take a coastal route to the finish, pinned against the shoreline by a series of Exclusion Zones.

It hurt them in the short term as they tumbled down the leaderboard. But by Sunday morning, with less than 100 miles left to race, weather routing projections had the top teams finishing within minutes of each other. None had been able to break-away, despite the significant splits on the race course.

It was Dongfeng Race Team, flying in down the coast from the north to win the leg, and the race. And it was the closest finish in the 45-year history of the race and the first win for a Chinese-flagged team.

Spanish Team MAPFRE was projected to finish second on the overall leaderboard with Team Brunel earning third on the final race podium.
Team AkzoNobel, projected to finish in second place on Leg 11, would be the first of the two Dutch-flagged boats to the finish in The Hague with a solid fourth place finish in the overall race.


The 45,000 nautical mile Volvo Ocean Race has come to this - a 25-mile drag race to the finish.
But while speed is critical, tactics haven't been thrown out the window completely.

MAPFRE held the advantage on the final run towards the finish, with just 25 miles to go.
Xabi Fernández's MAPFRE holds a 0.7 mile lead over Team Brunel and a 6.4 mile margin over a hard-charging Dongfeng Race Team, speeding in from the north.

Some difficult decision will be coming up as Brunel is almost certain to throw some gybes in at MAPFRE, daring the Spanish boat to let them split away.
The risk of covering too closely is that making manouevers is slow, and could allow Dongfeng to close the gap completely.



Volvo Ocean Race, final Leg 11 -- Final Leaderboard
1. Dongfeng Race Team – 3 days, 3 hours, 22 minutes, 32 seconds
2. team AkzoNobel – 3 days, 3 hours, 38 minutes, 31 seconds
3. MAPFRE – 3 days, 3 hours, 39 minutes, 25 seconds
4. Team Brunel – 3 days, 3 hours, 45 minutes, 52 seconds
5. Turn the Tide on Plastic – 3 days, 3 hours, 56 minutes, 56 seconds
6. SHK / Scallywag – 3 days, 4 hours, 01 minutes, 32 seconds
7. Vestas 11th Hour Racing – 3 days, 4 hours, 05 minutes, 36 seconds

Volvo Ocean Race Overall Points Leaderboard after Leg 11
1. Dongfeng Race Team – 73 points
2. MAPFRE – 70 points
3. Team Brunel – 69 points
4. team AkzoNobel – 59 points
5. Vestas 11th Hour Racing – 39 points
6. SHK / Scallywag – 32 points *
7. Turn the Tide on Plastic – 32 points *

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