At the Portugal Match Cup in Lisbon, the Swedish Match Tour presented BMW as the new tour partner of the only worldwide professional sailing series in the match race. The winner of the 2004/05 tour will receive a new BMW 545i Touring worth around 70,000 euros.
The 5-Touring will be presented together with the prize money of approx. 50,000 euros at the finals in Sweden / Marstrand. The tour champion can therefore call his own a total bonus of approx. 120,000 euros, an extraordinary prize money in sailing! BMW sponsorship lasts three years.
"We are very happy and proud to announce the partnership today," said Pierre Tinnerholm, President of the Swedish Match Tour. "The tour has developed continuously over the five years since its inception and the new partnership underscores this development."
BMW sees many advantages in the partnership with the Swedish Match Tour. On the one hand, the proximity to the America's Cup teams that regularly take part in the tour, as well as the development of the tour in the direction of the most successful worldwide sailing series as well as the excellent opportunities to provide international hospitality and customer relationships in the various BMW markets to be able to.
The sixth tour season will consist of nine events in key markets, including the Match Race Germany, partner of the tour from the very beginning. For us, BMW’s commitment is an important sign. We have been the leading match race event in Germany for years, and now we also have a leading brand as a new partner. This is also important for us with regard to the acquisition of further sponsors and underlines the long-term, not always easy work of sponsor acquisition in Germany ", said Eberhard Magg (Speedwave) and Harald Thierer (Visioneo), organizers of the Match Race Germany.
"With such an attractive price that awaits the Tour Champion, every regatta counts. It is a really exciting development to have a BMW 545i Touring as a bonus," says reigning Tour winner Peter Gilmour from Australia, the pizza skipper -LSailing Teams. "Every skipper and participant will be very determined to win, so there will likely be a lot of different events with different winners during the 2004/05 Tour, which will be exciting. The most balanced team will win and I can assure you we are more as determined to repeat our 2003/04 victory again next year, "said Gilmour.
At the first edition of the Swedish Match Tour in Lisbon, however, the old master was not able to build on the success of the previous series. He finished fifth in the regatta, which was first sailed with the Swedish Match 40 yachts. The American Ed Baird wins surprisingly clear, who after his World Cup victory a few weeks ago also sent Russell Coutts home 3-0 in the final. Until then, Coutts, who was back with the Danish team around top match racer Jes Gram-Hansen, hadn't lost a single one of his eleven preliminary round races.