BMW ORACLE Racing wins 33rd America’s Cup. The US-Challenger defeats the Defender 2 to 0.

Munich/ Valencia. The BMW ORACLE Racing team has won the 33rd America’s Cup, dethroning Swiss holder Alinghi. The challenger’s spectacular trimaran “USA 17”, with its futuristic 68-metre wing sail, defeated the catamaran “Alinghi 5” in the waters off Valencia on the second day to record the decisive second win. The best-of-three match ended 2-0 in favour of the US crew of owner Larry Ellison. This Deed of Gift series saw the holder and challenger go head-to-head in a straight duel.

“Congratulations to Larry Ellison and his whole crew!” said Ian Robertson, BMW AG Board Member for Sales and Marketing. “The goal we have all been working towards for over two and a half years has now been achieved. This has been a fantastic performance by the whole team. As Technology Partner, we have also made a successful contribution to winning the world’s most prestigious sporting trophy. We have positioned BMW as a competent partner in competitive sailing and have firmly established the transfer of technology in the America’s Cup. On the construction side, BMW engineers have set new benchmarks for intelligent lightweight design. Added to which, among the relevant target group, BMW is the highest-profile brand in competitive sailing.”

With 159 years of history, the America’s Cup is the world’s oldest sporting competition and brings together the best professional sailors, yacht designers and boat builders of their generation in the pursuit of perfection. For the 33rd America’s Cup, the BMW ORACLE Racing designers and engineers were charged with one of the most exacting challenges in the long history of the event. The design rules were wide open, and experts from a wide variety of specialist areas, such as materials research, aerospace, composite materials, electronics, data analysis and numerous branches of engineering, have all played their part in the design and construction of the high-tech yacht.

BMW engineers, for example, contributed their knowledge and EfficientDynamics expertise in the area of intelligent lightweight design. The aim was to build a yacht that was as light and torsionally stiff as possible and could stand up to the rigours of the race. In multihull racing, it is particularly important to keep weight low, as the yacht which can raise a float out of the water the quickest has a major advantage. The transfer of knowledge from the BMW engineers was not a one-way street; the valuable expertise gained over the course of the project will all find its way back to the BMW Research and Innovation Centre (FIZ). BMW has been involved in the America’s Cup as a Technology Partner since 2002.

The future involvement of BMW in the America’s Cup will depend on the development and organisation of the competition going forward. As Robertson explains: “We will make a decision on our further involvement in the America’s Cup over the coming weeks. What is already certain is that BMW will continue to be represented actively in yacht racing. We will go on playing an active role in raising global interest in sailing in the future and continue to use projects such as the BMW Sailing Cup and regional events in the various markets as a platform for customer relations and to further strengthen the BMW brand values.”

The BMW Group

The BMW Group is one of the most successful manufacturers of automobiles and motorcycles in the world with its BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce brands. As a global company, the BMW Group operates 24 production facilities in 13 countries and has a global sales network in more than 140 countries. The BMW Group achieved a global sales volume of approximately 1.29 million automobiles and over 87,000 motorcycles for the 2009 financial year. Revenues for 2009 totalled euro 50.68 billion. At 31 December 2009, the company employed a global workforce of approximately 96,000 associates. The success of the BMW Group has always been built on long-term thinking and responsible action. The company has therefore established ecological and social sustainability throughout the value chain, comprehensive product responsibility and a clear commitment to conserving resources as an integral part of its strategy. As a result of its efforts, the BMW Group has been ranked industry leader in the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes for the last five years.