GB1 is Britain’s America’s Cup Challenger and representative of the Challenger of Record, the Royal Yacht Squadron Ltd, for the Louis Vuitton 38th America’s Cup. 

GB1 is the new identity of Athena Racing, the British America’s Cup team founded by Sir Ben Ainslie in 2014, after he won the America’s Cup with USA in 2013. Initially competing under the name Land Rover BAR for the 35th America’s Cup in Bermuda in 2017, the team then went on to compete in the 36th America’s Cup in Auckland, New Zealand in 2021 and for the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup in Barcelona in 2024.

The team made history at the 2024 event; becoming the first British team in 60 years to race in the America's Cup Match, the first in 90 years to score points in the Match, and the first ever to win the America's Cup Challenger Series. These achievements marked Britain's most successful performance in the competition's history. 

 For the Louis Vuitton 38th America’s Cup, GB1 will be backed by Oakley Capital, the investment firm co-founded by Managing Partner Peter Dubens, which has taken a majority ownership investment in the America’s Cup team. 

GB1’s challenge for the America’s Cup will be the fourth time Sir Ben Ainslie’s British team represents the Challenger of Record, Royal Yacht Squadron Racing Ltd. Based in Cowes, UK, the Royal Yacht Squadron is one of the oldest and most prestigious yacht clubs in the world, dating back to 1815. It was the key architect of the original race around the Isle of Wight in 1851, which became known as the ‘America’s Cup.’ 

On 22 August 1851, the yacht America beat the best of the British fleet under the burgee of the New York Yacht Club. The prize was the R.Y.S. £100 Challenge Cup, a trophy first purchased from the Crown Jewellers, R&S Garrard in 1848 and donated by the Royal Yacht Squadron founder member, the Marquess of Anglesey.

The American team returned to the United States, having sold the America at the end of the season in 1851, and after much consideration as to what to do with the trophy, donated it in 1857 under a strict Deed of Gift that laid out terms for its future competition to the New York Yacht Club and renamed it: America’s Cup. 

Sir Ben Ainslie is GB1’s Team Principal focusing on the governance and commercial development of the team, while continuing to support the performance programme. He is joined by world-renowned sailor and high-performance executive Ian Walker as CEO, a double Olympic silver medallist in the 470 and Star class, and winner of the Volvo Ocean Race. In the design room, Nick Holroyd has re-signed as Head of Design and on the water one of Britain’s most accomplished sailors, Dylan Fletcher MBE, returns for his second America’s Cup campaign as GB1’s helm.  

One of the British Team’s key commitments remains the same: to create a pathway for the next generation of British sailors into the America’s Cup and other high-performance sailing events. The team will again field strong Youth and Women’s America’s Cup teams with their Athena Pathway programme with Team Principal Hannah Mills OBE, Britain’s most decorated female sailing athlete, again returning as the helm for the second edition of the Women’s America’s Cup. 

With a new structure and new backers, the Challenger of Record will be looking to go one better than their history-making result in Barcelona in 2024. To write their name in history as the team that brought the America’s Cup ‘home’ to where it all began in 185 would be one of the great stories of the America’s Cup, returning the trophy to the Royal Yacht Squadron for the first time since its inception.  

AMERICA’S CUP PARTICIPATIONS

2024. AC37. Barcelona. AC Match Finalists 

2024. AC37. Barcelona. Louis Vuitton Cup Winners (Challenger Series) 

2021. AC36. Auckland. Prada Cup Finalist (Challenger Series)  

2017. AC35. Bermuda. Louis Vuitton Cup Semi-Final