The expectation is above all in the days before the Defi Azimut race, which will take place next week in Lorient, and in which five of the IMOCA teams registered for The Ocean Race 2022-23 will face each other for the first time

Four of the participants, the 11th Hour Racing Team by Charlie Enright and Mark Towill (USA), the Team Malizia (GER) by Boris Herrmann, the GUYOT Environment - Team Europe (FRA / GER) by Benjamin Dutreux and Robert Stanjek, and the French Biotherm by Paul Meilhat, will sail with four crew members (including at least one woman), as well as an additional reporter on board whose function is to communicate about the work of their crew in words, images and videos. For his part, French patron Kevin Escoffier has chosen to navigate his IMOCA Holcim - PRB alone.

The city of Lorient is recognized as the spiritual home of the IMOCA class, and the popular six-day annual event, to be held from 13 to 18 September, has attracted a total of 29 ships in its 12th edition. The list of entries includes many of the most important names in the class, including the three best patterns of the Vendée Globe 2020-2021: Yannick Bestaven (FRA), Charlie Dalin (FRA) and Louis Burton (FRA).

The Defi Azimut opens on Wednesday with a day of speed tests on a one-mile nautical journey between Lorient and the nearby island of Groix. The race will have a direct elimination format in the style of the World Cup, with the teams grouped in the first rounds and later the classified ones compete one to one in the next rounds. For the ships of The Ocean Race, this format offers a valuable opportunity to measure itself against its opponents in terms of gross speed.

The next day, the fleet is embarked on a 48-hour high race on a route that enters the Atlantic around a series of virtual points of passage, and then return on Saturday to Lorient. For the four teams with full crew of The Ocean Race, this will be the first and last time they will compete together on the high seas before the 14th edition of the world round on January 15, 2023 in Alicante.

The last day of Sunday will focus on a timed fleet race around the island of Groix of 15 square kilometres. With 29 ships and a record time of only one hour, eight minutes and 10 seconds (established by the French pattern Vincent Riou with the PRB in 2015), this race will be a frenzy struggle in which the tactical or performance errors of the maneuvers will not be included.