Norauto searching for a third win in Sotogrande

The French team, Norauto powered by Groupama Team France moves ahead of the Swiss Team Tilt to lead by two points before competition starts on Thursday 22nd of September on the second of the GC32 Racing Tour Spanish events. For Norauto - a brand experiencing a rapid growth in Spain with 71 established centres - the event is a great opportunity to support the team.

Seven teams will compete on the GC32 Racing Tour in Sotogrande where the battle continues for the leadership between Norauto and Swiss Team Tilt. Following two victories in Riva and Palma de Mallorca and a second place in the Riva Foiling Week, Norauto holds the lead over the Swiss and will be aiming to reassert their hold and affirm their teams good performance on the circuit.

“On every event each team does a lot of sailing and a lot of learning, we have progressed the fastest in the class, so our learning curve is not as steep as everyone else's so the competition is for sure going to be tough and getting better with every hour on the water.” says Adam Minoprio.

A winning crew
The crew for this event is part of GC32 team training programme for Groupama Team France America's Cup of which Norauto is an official sponsor. Racing the flying catamarans is the perfect preparation for ultimately competing on the America's Cup. 

"The GC32 is a foiling catamaran, the same as the Cup, so it's great to continue learning about foiling and It's also great for us to race and keep up our competitive spirit with a strong crew, since we spend so much time on the water training (the new AC45 Test has been sailing for less than 2 months in France in preparation for the next Cup)”, explained Adam.

New Zealand’s Adam Minoprio will lead the Norauto team in Sotogrande this weekend. "It will be very interesting. Many people have not sailed here before, but it will be the same for all and we will have to learn how the winds work here and maintain good boat speed,”  says Adam. Meanwhile, Thierry Douillard and Nicolas Heintz, now recovered from his injury, with Matthieu Vandame and Arnaud Jarlegan, will be racing together in Sotogrande. This crew already competed at the previous event held last May on Lake Traunsee, in Austria, which saw the team win the event overall. “For Sotogrande we will have more consistency with the crew, we have Thierry and Nico back from injury so hopefully we will be faster and have sharper manoeuvres," says Adam Minoprio.

The scene
Sotogrande is one of Spain's, possibly even Europe’s largest urbanisations and is well known for sports facilities and impressive golf courses including the Valderrama Golf Course, considered to be one of the best in Europe. Sotogrande also has become popular for sailing events after hosting some of the biggest international sailing circuits such as the Sotogrande RC44 World Cup and J80s Worlds. The arrival of the “flying” cats and the show they provide the Andalusian resort will be the focus of international sailing this weekend. The best sailing teams in the world will meet this weekend in Sotogrande to compete in one of the most exciting and innovative circuits.

Norauto team in La Reserva de Sotogrande Cup
Adam Minoprio, skipper
Arnaud Jarlegan, mainsail
Nicolas Heintz, bow
Matthieu Vandame, trimmer
Thierry Douillard, trimmer

The teams participating in the GC32 La Reserva de Sotogrande Cup
ARMIN STROM Sailing Team (SUI) skipper Flavio Marazzi 
Malizia - Yacht Club de Monaco (MON) skipper Pierre Casiraghi
Mamma Aiuto! (JPN) skipper Naofumi Kamei
NORAUTO (FRA) skipper Adam Minoprio (NZL)
Realteam (SUI) skipper Sébastien Schneiter
Team Engie (FRA) skipper Sébastien Rogues
Team Tilt (SUI) skipper Jérôme Clerc

The provisions overall rankings on the GC32 Racing Tour 2016
1 - NORAUTO (FRA): 4 points
2 - Team TILT (SUI): 6 points
3 - ARMIN STROM Sailing Team (SUI): 11 points
4 - Gunvor Sailing (SWE): 16 points
5 - ARGO (USA): 16 points
6 - MALIZIA - YC Monaco (MON): 17 points
7 - Team Engie (FRAU): 21 points
8 - Mamma Aiuto! (JPN): 23 points
9 - Realteam (SUI): 26 points
10 - Spindrift racing (FRA): 28 points
11 - ORANGE Racing (NER): 29 points

Norauto 2016 GC32 Season
May 26 to 29: Riva Cup, Lake Garda
July 7 to 10: Malcesine Cup / The Foiling Week, Lake Garda
August 3 to 6: Copa del Rey Mapfre, Palma de Maiorca, Balearic Islands (Spain)
September 22 to 25: Sotogrande (Spain)
October 6 to 8: Act 7 of the Extreme Sailing Series, Lisbon (Portugal)
October 13 to 16: Marseille One Design, Roucas Blanc (France)