Team Holcim-PRB continues to set a blistering pace in The Ocean Race on the final approach to the leg 3 scoring gate.
The team set what appears for the moment to be a “final” IMOCA record for a 24 hour run of 595.26 nautical miles at 02:15 UTC Sunday morning, completely obliterating the previous certified record of 539 miles and the unofficial record of 560 miles.
Skipper Kevin Escoffier is well-position to claim maximum points at the gate, and maintain his perfect record in the race following wins in leg 1 and leg 2.
But some 160 miles behind, the racing is intense. Team Malizia has just overhauled 11th Hour Racing Team in the race for second place points, and the pair are starting to drop Biotherm in their wakes.
“We are diving south underneath Australia, still going fast at 24 knots, but more importantly now it is all about getting to the scoring gate in good shape,” said 11th Hour Racing Team navigator Simon Fisher.
“We are in a similar situation to before, we have a front behind us and a high pressure in front of us, and it is all about managing our latitude to get under the high and stay in the good pressure, and in front of the front. It is super close. We are trying to manage our angles and speeds and will try to pip the others to the scoring gate, which is coming up fast.”
The ETA at ths scoring gate for Team Holcim-PRB is around 1630-1700 UTC… The chasing trio is nearly 8 hours behind that.
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