Volvo Ocean Race champions-elect, Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing, ADOR, will race all-out for a final podium place in the epic round the world race's ninth and final leg to Gothenburg, Sweden, which starts from Lorient, France on Tuesday, June 16th.

The Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority-backed team's unsurpassable points advantage of eight points means they will be crowned winners of the Volvo Ocean Race in Sweden irrespective of their finishing position on Leg 9. However, skipper Ian Walker maintained that the Azzam crew was determined to finish its nine-month campaign in style with a final top three placing.

Walker - who will become the first British skipper in the race's 40-year history to lift the Volvo Ocean Race trophy - said the crew were keen for a good finish in Gothenburg to give the team's fans in Abu Dhabi and around the world something to cheer about.

Leg 9 is broken into two sections, with the seven-boat fleet stopping for a short ‘pit stop' in the Netherlands seaside resort of Scheveningen in The Hague, where they are expected on Friday June 19th. Racing restarts at midday on Saturday June 20th when the yachts will leave in a staggered start sequence at the same intervals as they arrived from Lorient.

No points will be awarded for The Hague stop and while the sailors are permitted to leave their yachts and effect repairs, they cannot receive help from their shore crews.

UAE Olympian Adil Khalid will rejoin the Azzam crew for the final leg after being forced out of Leg 8 by sickness. Khalid, who will become the first Emirati sailor to win the Volvo Ocean Race, said the course along the north west coast of mainland Europe was a complex one.

"First we pass through the English Channel, one of the busiest and most tidal commercial shipping routes in the world," Khalid said. "Then we will have to deal with strong currents and steep choppy waves in the North Sea. Finally, the approach to Gothenburg through the Skagerrak Strait between Norway and Denmark is strewn with small islands and rocks, so we will need to be fully alert."

Leg 9 is scheduled to start at 17:00 Central European Time (19:00 in Abu Dhabi) and ADOR fans can watch it live at www.volvooceanrace.com/live.
Source: WAM