Alicante, 26th September 2014: The Volvo Ocean 65 “MAPFRE” will be the one who will defend the colours of Spain in the new edition of the Volvo Ocean Race. The sponsorship was confirmed today, Friday, by the insurance company MAPFRE and Pedro Campos, the team’s CEO.
With this sponsorship, MAPFRE moves forward with its support to Spanish sailing, where it has been present in different sailing disciplines, such as Olympic and offshore sailing. With Iker Martínez and Xabi Fernández, MAPFRE finished second in the two-handed, non-stop round the world race, the Barcelona World Race, back in 2011. The crossing of the Atlantic Ocean was its latest offshore campaign, with the accomplished mission of setting a new record in Columbus’ Discovery Route.
Pedro Campos, CEO of the team, pointed out that the team is “pleased and grateful to MAPFRE for having its support in this new great adventure which is competing in the Volvo Ocean Race representing Spain. MAPFRE has been supporting sailing for years and we have already worked together in big campaigns. Without a doubt, we will do our best to get MAPFRE and Spain in the highest place we possibly can.”
Antonio Núñez, MAPFRE Vice President, highlighted that “being the main sponsor of a campaign like this one is an exceptional opportunity. The experience of this team and its excellent crew are great to represent the brand MAPFRE around the world. We thank their effort to compete in such an adventure and we wish them a lot of success in this regatta.”
Knut Frostad, Volvo Ocean Race CEO, said: “This is great news for the race and we’re delighted to welcome MAPFRE to our family of title sponsors. We know the global company has a love of sailing and share many common values with us, putting people at the heart of everything they do. They are backing a very strong crew which has already shown it will be competitive in what I believe will be another extremely closely contested race.”
The Volvo Ocean 65 “MAPFRE” has an excellent crew led by Olympic champions and offshore sailors Iker Martínez and Xabi Fernández. The crew is mainly formed by Spaniards but it also has an important international character, with other nationalities as Brazilian André Fonseca, the only Brazilian in the whole fleet, and Frenchman Michel Desjoyeaux, #1 in solo offshore sailing.
Next October 4th, the Spanish team will compete in Alicante in the first inshore race of this edition. One week after, on the 11th, Leg 1 from Alicante to Cape Town (South Africa) will start, and with it the first points for the overall classification will be at stake.
