Class40 Champion 2023, the Italian who beat Beccaria in his own class
Alberto Bona has raced in Class40 since 2017. From 2022 to 2024, he skippered hull #186IBSA, a Mach 40.5 designed by Sam Manuard and built by JPS Production in La Trinité-sur-Mer. In 2023, he delivered an outstanding season: Class40 champion (1,077 points), victory at the RORC Caribbean 600 fourteen minutes ahead ofAlla Grande – Pirelli of Ambrogio Beccaria, win at the Sables – Horta – Les Sables, and 3rd in the Transat Jacques Vabre. The IBSA project ended in November 2024 after three seasons, 25,000 racing miles, five transatlantic races, two wins, and five podiums.
The 2023 season that changed everything
February 2023, RORC Caribbean 600. Bona and Pablo Santurde del Arco led the 600-mile race around the Caribbean for two and a half days, finishing 14 minutes ahead of Beccaria — the Italian who had dominated the class for years withAlla Grande – Pirelli. In the same season, Bona went on to win and podium consistently on the Class40 circuit, culminating in the championship title by year-end. The Transat Jacques Vabre closed the sequence with a 3rd place Le Havre – Fort-de-France (18d 21h over 5,466 nm, again with Santurde del Arco).
2024: the race that broke the streak
Transat CIC 2024, Lorient – New York solo. Bona finished 5th in 12d 4h 35m, but the race was marked by a hull failure that slowed him in the second half. A few months later, IBSA ended its racing program after three years. The Class40 #186 was sold to Sasha Lanièce (Les Déferlantes / Alderan team).
2025: back on hull 158
In 2025, Bona returned to Class40 hull #158Crédit Mutuel (Ian Lipinski’s former boat) and entered the CIC Med Channel Race doublehanded with Lipinski himself.
Results
- 2022: 8th Route du Rhum – Destination Guadeloupe solo, first season on Class40IBSA (hull #186).
- 2023: 1st RORC Caribbean 600 with Pablo Santurde del Arco, 14 minutes ahead ofAlla Grande – Pirelli of Ambrogio Beccaria.
- 2023: 3rd Défi Atlantique with Pablo Santurde del Arco.
- 2023: 1st Sables – Horta – Les Sables doublehanded.
- 2023: 6th Normandy Channel Race, 8th Rolex Fastnet Race.
- 2023: 3rd Transat Jacques Vabre Le Havre – Fort-de-France with Pablo Santurde del Arco (18d 21h over 5,466 nm).
- 2023: Class40 champion (International Championship, 1,077 points).
- 2024: 5th Transat CIC Lorient – New York solo (12d 4h 35m, slowed by hull damage).
- 2024: 3rd Normandy Channel Race.
