Concluding an 18 year journey, American Magic Quantum Racing sign off at the top with a seventh 52 SUPER SERIES championship title
This article was originally published on 52SuperSeries.com on September 29.
Doug DeVos and the American Magic Quantum Racing team lifted their seventh season championship title today in Sardinia, Italy, at the conclusion of the 52 SUPER SERIES Porto Cervo Range Rover Sailing Week, a fitting swan song as the US-flagged TP52 programme comes to an end some 18 years after joining the TP52 fleet as Quantum Racing.
Talismanic owner-driver DeVos, one of the trio of founding owners who started the 52 SUPER SERIES in 2012, is looking to spend more time at home with his family, especially his grandchildren, but will continue as an active, passionate main shareholder in the 52 SUPER SERIES. His participation in the world’s leading monohull grand prix circuit will be missed by all, but he leaves the series in great health, signing off from a 2025 season that finished with 13 boats from 10 nations competing at the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda event. At least two new teams are expected to join the circuit from 2026, including one new boat in build.
Led by tactician Terry Hutchinson, American Magic Quantum Racing has dominated the season, winning three of the five regattas, including a breezy, tough Rolex TP52 World Championship in Cascais, Portugal. They add to 52 SUPER SERIES circuit championship wins in 2024, 2022, 2018, 2016, 2014, and 2013. And this is the third time they have won the ‘triple crown’ all of the three principal prizes, the season championship, the world title, and the Royal Cup.
High emotions
Predictably, emotions were high among the tightly knit extended team when they docked back at the YCCS. Hutchinson paid a warm tribute to team members past and present, as well as to the support of Doug and Maria DeVos and their family.
“We are so fortunate to work for Doug and Maria (DeVos) over these last 18 years.” Hutchinson said, “You have to take a step back and appreciate what they have done for us and the family we have created over the years, the dysfunction that we have created within our lifelines, how we argue together, how we beat on each other, how we respond, how we support each other. It is a unique team and we are incredibly fortunate, we have had some great people race with us.”
DeVos smiled, “It hit me coming in that it is all coming to an end. I feel so grateful to have been part of this for so long, thankful to all the sailors, all the teams, everything that has gone into making this fleet what it is, and I have had a chance to be part of it from the beginning, and so I just feel so blessed. Winning is just a great reward for all the hard work that the whole team puts in. You can’t help but look at the professionalism of the team, and how we bounce back after the tough days and get ourselves back on track.”
No racing today, double happiness for Sled
After no racing could be completed on this final day of the season, due to very light winds and the threat of thunderstorms, Takashi Okura’s Sled team win the 52 SUPER SERIES Porto Cervo Range Rover regatta title, their second triumph in Porto Cervo since their whitewash in 2019 when the circuit last visited Porto Cervo.
Sled finished second overall for the season, 19 points behind American Magic, whilst Jean Luc Petithuguenin’s French crew of Paprec finished third overall, their best ever end-of-season finish, adding to an excellent second at the world championship where they lost to American Magic by one single point.
Don Cowie, leader of the Sled team, was delighted with their season, “It is huge for the team. It has been a tough week, but it has been really enjoyable. Murray, Andrea, and Francesco at the back, the trimming team, everyone, and the shore team have all worked hard, and we have had one of those weeks where everything fell into place. We had some pace in the breeze, and we were really comfortable with how we sailed in the breeze, and everything gelled. And Mr Okura does a great job considering how little time he really is on the handlebars, and he really enjoys the flat water and the big breeze.”
Hasso and Tina Plattner’s Phoenix, with Tom Slingsby and Will Ryan as tactician and strategist respectively, finish runners-up for the regatta to Sled, whilst Andy Soriano’s Alegre finish their season on a high note with third.
Newcomer to the fleet this year, Italian Andrea Lacorte, is the top owner-driver for 2025.
A total of 40 of the 50 scheduled races were contested. Both American Magic and Platoon Aviation scored seven race wins this year compared to six for Sled and Alkedo. Twelve of the 13 teams from ten different countries participating won at least one race, confirming the competitiveness of the most evenly matched fleet in the history of the circuit. Gladiator (winner in Saint-Tropez) and Sled (winner in Sardinia) were the only teams to challenge the dominance of American Magic Quantum Racing, who sign off at the top, as the best team in the history of the 52 SUPER SERIES.
American Magic Quantum Racing also received the award as eSpring Game Changers for their longstanding commitment to sustainability initiatives and their role as influential pioneers in this area.
