News Girard-Perregaux will be alongside BMW Oracle Racing for the 32nd edition of the America’s Cup.
The partnership linking Girard-Perregaux to the Challenger of Record for the America’s Cup in 2007, was announced in Valencia (Spain) during the Louis Vuitton Act 2, the second competition in the four-year circuit of regattas preceding the selection of challengers.
After a decade of successes deriving from the partnership with Ferrari in Formula 1, the Swiss watchmaker is joining the "F1 of sailing" alongside Larry Ellison, Chris Dickson and their team in one of the most exciting and oldest sporting competitions in the world.
The choice of the President of Girard-Perregaux, Luigi Macaluso – European rally champion in 1972, formerly a member of the marketing team of Azzurra the first Italian challenge in the America’s Cup in 1983, President of the CSAI (Commissione Sportiva Automobilistica Italiana) – is to link his brand with a winning mentality like BMW Oracle Racing. And thus to combine the history and experience of the great name in the sector of luxury articles with a team of excellent partners who all share some things in common: their market is the world, their objective is excellence, their prerogative always to go one step further and innovate.
However, as Luigi Macaluso declares, "The true spark that brought Girard-Perregaux to its official debut in the world of sailing is man’s passion for challenges, their desire to work together and win in an extreme challenge where technological innovation is coupled with the human element, the capacity to form a team and in which, above all, there are still factors that cannot be fully controlled by technology: the sea and wind. For this reason it is unique".
Just as unique is the BMW Oracle Racing team, formed with the goal of winning the America’s Cup. A truly global team comprising 17 different nationalities, with an American and European heart in which the finest sporting talents pull together: such as the skipper and CEO from New Zealand, Chris Dickson, the tactician John Kostecki (USA), the helmsmen Bertrand Pacé (France) and Gavin Brady (New Zealand), the mid-bow Sofuku Kazuhiko (Japan), the trimmer Ross Halcrow (New Zealand) and the bowman Tony Kolb (Germany).
Chris Dickson: In a team built to win, as in the case of BMW Oracle Racing, the specialisation of each single partner is extremely important. In our case, they are the leaders in each of their sectors. Girard-Perregaux blends tradition and craftsmanship to create innovative and dynamic timepieces. At BMW Oracle Racing, we blend the traditions of the oldest trophy in sport with innovative technologies to succeed in today’s competitive environment. We are seeking the unique synchronization of teamwork to gain the benefits of the latest technology. Also of importance is the ability to integrate this know-how, sharing the best international experiences to create an amalgam that is totally unique. Only someone who is profoundly ready to accept this challenge can make our project a winning one. In the case of Luigi Macaluso, this certainty emerged from our very first meeting in Switzerland. He demonstrated his personal involvement and passion for challenges, as well as his great experience of the world of business and sport.
BMW Oracle Racing, together with team partners BMW and Larry Ellison, the CEO and founder of Oracle Corporation, is a professional, international sailing team. Founder and owner of the team is Larry Ellison, with Chris Dickson its skipper and CEO. Under the flag of the Golden Gate Yacht Club in San Francisco, the team first competed in October 2002 before earning a berth in January 2003 as a finalist in the Louis Vuitton Cup - the challenger series for the 31st America’s Cup. As the first Challenger, the "Challenger of Record" for the 32nd America’s Cup in 2007 in Valencia, BMW Oracle Racing has worked closely with the Defender to modernize the event, the first in the new era of the oldest trophy in international sport.
October 26, 2004
