La Roche-Posay Racing Team will face an unprecedented opening to the Louis Vuitton Cup when the 38th America's Cup challenger series gets underway in Naples in 2027, with six fleet races bringing all seven AC75s onto the course simultaneously for the first time in the competition's 175-year history.
Racing regulations published by Race Director Iain Murray confirm the Louis Vuitton Cup will open on 22 and 23 May 2027 with three races per day across both days, contested in the Bay of Naples.
Stephan Kandler, founder and CEO of K-Challenge, the organisation behind La Roche-Posay Racing Team, says the format brings both opportunity and challenge. "Opening the Louis Vuitton Cup with fleet racing aboard our AC75s represents a particularly significant evolution for the competition. It will immediately deliver exceptional sporting intensity and outstanding visibility for the teams. For us, this format presents both a tremendous opportunity and an additional challenge: we will need to perform from the very first race, in an environment that will be considerably more congested and unpredictable than match racing."
From Wednesday 26 May the competition returns to the traditional match-racing format, with the first Round Robin running from 26 to 28 May across 21 scheduled matches. Defending champion Emirates Team New Zealand will take part in the fleet races and all three Round Robins, though its results will not count towards the final challenger standings.
The second Round Robin begins on Saturday 29 May and runs through to Monday 31 May, with a further 21 head-to-head matches. After a one-week break, teams return for a third Round Robin from 9 to 11 June, again comprising 21 matches.
At the end of the third Round Robin, the top three challengers qualify directly for the semi-finals. The remaining three teams enter a repechage on 12 and 13 June, competing for the fourth and final semi-final berth.
Philippe Presti, Sports Director of La Roche-Posay Racing Team, says the schedule demands complete versatility. "This schedule confirms the exceptional level of performance required throughout this Louis Vuitton Cup. We will need to prepare the team to move very quickly from fleet racing, where reading the racecourse, executing the starts and managing traffic will be decisive, to the very particular intensity of match racing. This range of formats will need to be fully integrated into every aspect of our preparation, both on and off the water."
The semi-finals run from 16 to 20 June 2027, with a reserve day on 21 June. The Final begins over the weekend of 26 and 27 June in a best-of-13 series, with the first team to win seven races taking the trophy and the right to face Emirates Team New Zealand. The series may extend through to 3 and 4 July 2027 if the full 13 races are required.
The winner receives a minimum of five days to prepare before the America's Cup Match begins over the weekend of 10 and 11 July 2027. Again, seven race wins takes the title. Should the contest run its full course, the final day of racing is scheduled for Monday 19 July 2027, though the Race Director retains the option to extend the programme if weather prevents racing from completing as planned.
Skipper and helmsman Quentin Delapierre says the team knows exactly what the campaign requires. "We now know precisely what lies ahead. It will be a long and intense campaign, requiring us to remain fast, reliable and resilient throughout the competition. As sailors, our objective is to approach every stage with the same determination, to improve race by race and to go as far as we possibly can. Representing France in Naples is an immense source of pride, as well as a responsibility that every member of our team fully understands."
