HAMPSHIRE sailor Alex Thomson remains part of a thrilling three-way battle for the leadership of the Barcelona World Race.
The Gosport sailor, onboard Hugo Boss with co-skipper Pepe Ribes, was this afternoon just a few nautical miles ahead of Cheminées Poujoulat, with third placed Neutrogena just 4.5 miles adrift in third place.
All three boatds have held the lead at some point in the last 24 hours and boat speeds in the light downwind conditions remain very similar.
That came after the excitement of Thomson and Ribes breaking the Barcelona to Gibraltar record.
They set a new record time for the 538 nautical mile journey of 2 days, 5 hours, 50 minutes.
Hugo Boss is the former Virbac-Paprec 3, a VPLP/Verdier IMOCA design launched in 2010.
It is also the boat which had set the previous Barcelona-Gibraltar record time, skippered by French pair Jean-Pierre Dick and Loick Peyron in the 2010-2011 Barcelona World Race at 3 days, 7 hours, 55 minutes.
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