The Ocean Race 2022-23: Biotherm hit object but still in the race as Leg 3 reaches climax in Itajai

Updated 01/04/2023 at 08:57 GMT

Biotherm are set to be the last of the finishers in Leg 3 of The Ocean Race after they made contact with an “unidentified floating object” on Friday night. The crew were running in fourth and last place prior to the incident but have been forced to sail slowly towards Itajai. Up front, Team Malizia have increased their lead over Holcim-PRB during the early hours of Saturday.

Neck-and-neck as fleet closes on Itajai – The Ocean Race daily recap

Biotherm have collided with an “unidentified floating object” which has damaged their port foil.

Race control announced the incident on Friday night as Biotherm continued to lose pace as they are last of the four crews.

At 10:00 UK time, Biotherm are 520 nautical miles behind race leaders Team Malizia and Holcim-PRB.

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11th Hour Racing Team are third, 100 nautical miles ahead of Biotherm, who say the port foil had been raised into its “up” position and the crew was working on sealing the small water ingress.

The hull around the foil bearing also appeared to have a crack leading to a small leak of water. The team said all on board were safe and they had the situation under control.

At the front of the pack, Malizia have opened up a lead of 40 nautical miles overnight into Saturday morning with the winning team expected to arrive in Itajai on Sunday morning at around 07:00 UK time.

On Friday, Malizia skipper Boris Herrmann was confident that his crew were faster than Holcim-PRB and that has proved to be the case.

Should they win the leg, it will end Holcim-PRB’s perfect record at this year’s edition of The Ocean Race, after they won the opening two legs and crossed the scoring gate earlier in Leg 3 in first place.

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Watch live coverage from every leg of The Ocean Race 2022-23 with Eurosport and discovery+

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