Aeolus-sponsored Dongfeng team second in first leg of Volvo Ocean Race

After a close fight in the race to Cape Town, tyre maker Aeolus has congratulated the Dongfeng team for crossing in second place at 15:22:48 UTC on 5 November, just 12 minutes and 4 seconds behind Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing.

Dongfeng skipper, Charles Caudrelier: “As a team we might not have much experience in the Volvo Ocean Race but my men know how to fight and they fight for every 1 per cent. I have a great team around me and for leg 1 we are really happy. We were not the favourites, we knew this, but I also knew we could do great things. I chose men that could fight.”

In particular, the Dongfeng team includes a lot of solo sailors used to fighting for every metre in the very tough Figaro event in France – also a One Design class like the Volvo Ocean 65. A key factor in the crew selection to build a team that could support and train the Chinese sailors in the best way possible.

“You know for the Chinese guys it’s been the toughest race. They have never done proper offshore racing before; we all work together and without them we wouldn’t be here – it’s awesome what they’ve done. I’m proud of them and they can be proud of themselves; they are ready to help no matter what – they’re two fantastic guys.

“It’s only the first leg and there are nine more to go. And we will have to start again with other Chinese guys onboard in the next legs – this is a key part of this project that we have embraced…It was not always easy in the build up to the start travelling from China to Europe then to the USA but it was necessary and the Chinese guys have been though a lot of training and they deserve this.”

For Chinese sailors Jiru Yang (Wolf) and Chen Jinhao (Horace), it was their first ever Volvo Ocean Race leg finish: “Although we had something unexpected happening during the leg, we managed to work it out instead of panicking,” said Wolf. “I think we all did a really good job in the past 25 days, and great teamwork for sure. I’m really proud to be one of the Chinese sailors onboard for the first leg and really proud to be a family member of this team.”

Dongfeng Race Team Project Director, Bruno Dubois added: “The guys have done an incredible job on this first leg supported by our great partners – Dongfeng Trucks who bought us ‘east wind’, Aeolus Tyres who were the ‘guardian of the wind’ and the City of Shiyan!” This is a reference to the team’s Chinese sponsors – Dongfeng Trucks, Dongfeng meaning ‘east wind’, Aeolus Tyres, Aeolus meaning ‘Guardian of the wind’ and the City of Shiyan.

The crew for this first leg were: Charles Caudrelier, Pascal Bidegorry, Chen Jinhao (Horace), Kevin Escoffier, Thomas Rouxel, Jiru Yang (Wolf), Martin Stromberg, Eric Peron and OnBoard Reporter, Yann Riou.