Django 7X edges out Balthasar for Rolex Middle Sea Race overall win

Giovanni Lombardi Stronati’s Wallyrocket 71 traded places with the defending champion for most of the 606 miles around Sicily, then pulled clear on the reaches after Favignana to win by 1 hour, 21 minutes and 20 seconds under IRC.

Giovanni Lombardi Stronati’s Wallyrocket 71 Django 7X has won the 2026 Rolex Middle Sea Race overall under IRC. Confirmation came from the Royal Malta Yacht Club at 11:30 CEST on Wednesday 21 October, once Django’s corrected time was beyond the reach of the remaining fleet. That secures the Rolex Middle Sea Race Trophy for the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda owner after the 47th edition of the 606-mile race around Sicily.

Django 7X finished in Marsamxett Harbour at 21:02 CEST on Monday 19 October. Its elapsed time was 2 days, 9 hours, 2 minutes and 19 seconds, and its IRC-adjusted time came to 3 days, 20 hours, 7 minutes and 2 seconds. It beat Louis Balcaen’s Mills 72 Balthasar, last year’s overall winner, by 39 minutes and 38 seconds on the water and 1 hour, 21 minutes and 20 seconds under IRC.

The result settles some unfinished business. Stronati’s Wallyrocket 71 – developed by Wally, Botin Partners and builder King Marine – made its debut at the 2025 Loro Piana Giraglia, but that October the team took the Botin 52 Django Deer around Sicily instead, finishing five minutes behind Balthasar on corrected time. A year on, with the new boat on the start line, the trophy is theirs.

The two maxis spent most of the race close together. “We knew that it would be close between us and Balthasar, but we also knew that when the breeze picked up, we had a little edge,” Django tactician Vasco Vascotto told the race organisers after the finish.

Django led Balthasar by seven minutes on corrected time at Capo Passero and stretched that to 19 minutes at Messina. “It was full of action. Luckily, we had wind all the way through,” Michele Ivaldi said from on board.

By Stromboli, almost all of that cushion had gone. Balthasar’s recovery from Messina left Django just three minutes and 36 seconds ahead under IRC. “We were going fast, and then we ended up in a no-wind zone, and they just went around it. They gained four miles,” Django crewman Shannon Falcone said from on board.

Balthasar then took the lead on the water during the roughly 150-mile leg to Favignana, with neither crew able to escape the other’s sight for long. Django’s reply came near San Vito lo Capo: it delayed its gybe after Balthasar turned and emerged ahead again. “It’s always fun to have somebody next to you for nearly the entire race,” said Balthasar tactician Bouwe Bekking.

The southbound leg gave Django room to build a more substantial lead. After the turn north of Levanzo, its IRC advantage grew from 19 minutes at Favignana to half an hour at Pantelleria and almost an hour at Lampedusa. For Vascotto, Favignana was the decisive change in the contest.

Bekking put Django’s edge in stronger wind down to its hull shape and extra water ballast. “As soon as the breeze comes up and the reach is coming into play, they just go faster than us. But we had a fantastic race,” he said.

Wally’s own figures back him up. The builder says the Wallyrocket 71 carries 2.7 tonnes of water ballast on a twin-rudder, bulb-keel platform. It says the boat is about two tonnes lighter than the Maxi 72s, carries around 35 per cent more ballast than its rivals and can shift the full load from one side to the other in around six seconds.

Among Django’s crew was Guillermo Parada, back in the race 30 years after his debut as helmsman and tactician aboard the 1996 line-honours winner Alexia.

Remon Vos’s Black Jack 100, skippered by Tristan Le Brun, took monohull line honours at 15:51 CEST on Monday 19 October. It completed the course in 51 hours and 51 minutes, its fastest passage in eight Middle Sea Races since 2006. “Winning line honours in the Rolex Middle Sea Race is fantastic. It’s a unique experience with this boat and the team on board,” Vos said. Black Jack 100 also won ORC overall.

Frédéric Puzin’s Carkeek FP54 Daguet 5 finished third overall under IRC, 4 hours, 31 minutes and 33 seconds behind Django. It finished at 06:34 CEST on Tuesday 20 October to take the provisional IRC 2 lead, 58 minutes and 46 seconds ahead of Artemis Bleu, with Wild Joe third. Puzin credited the transition near Trapani: “I think we managed the low-pressure situations in a better way than some others. It made a real difference near Trapani, just before starting the long reach to Pantelleria, when we were able to accelerate into the new breeze.”

Further down the fleet, Massimo Juris and co-skipper Pietro Luciani won IRC 6 and the double-handed division in the JPK 1080 Colombre, and finished second overall under ORC. Red Ruby was third overall under ORC.

With the overall result settled, the rest of the fleet is still making its way back to Malta to complete the class results. Track the fleet here.

IRC overall

1 Django 7X (Wallyrocket 71) – 3 days, 20 hours, 7 minutes and 2 seconds
2 Balthasar (Mills 72) – 3 days, 21 hours, 28 minutes and 22 seconds
3 Daguet 5 (Carkeek FP54) – 4 days, 0 hours, 38 minutes and 35 seconds

Django 7X crew

Giovanni Lombardi Stronati, Andreas Axelsson, Nicholas Brezzi Villi, Giacomo Conti, Cecilia Zorzi, Chris Hosking, Grattan Roberts, Giulio Bertelli, Matteo Raviani, Michele Ivaldi, Maciel Cicchetti, Guillermo Parada, Pietro Mantovani, Ray Tomassetti, Ross Halcrow, Shannon Falcone, Bruno Zirilli, David Vera, Vasco Vascotto