Ineos v Athena trial set for January 2028, keeping GB1’s AC38 campaign alive

Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Sir Ben Ainslie will finally face each other in court on 12 January 2028 – six months after the 38th America’s Cup is decided in Naples.

That’s the date Mr Justice Andrew Baker has set for the trial of Ineos Racing’s claim against Athena Racing over the AC75 and associated assets from the Ineos Britannia campaign – the boat Athena kept when the partnership ended in January 2025, and which GB1 plans to race in Naples as Challenger of Record.

The order, made at a case management conference in the Admiralty Court on 16 October, allows 14–18 days for the hearing, including the judge’s reading time. Factor in a reserved judgment and a ruling looks unlikely before spring 2028.

The hearing also brought a setback for Ineos. Ratcliffe’s side had applied in September for a trial of “certain preliminary issues”, a bid to have some questions settled early and separately. The judge dismissed it, ordering instead “a single trial of all issues in these proceedings”. The order doesn’t say which issues Ineos wanted heard first, but the outcome means the contract arguments and Athena’s unclean-hands allegations will now be fought out together.

Costs of the hearing and the failed application are “in the case”, so whoever loses at trial picks up the bill. The judge also approved an agreed Case Memorandum and List of Common Ground and Issues, the standard documents that set out what each side accepts and what the trial will have to decide. At least the two camps can agree on what they disagree about.

• 26 February 2027 – Both sides exchange lists of documents, including details of anything withheld or redacted, and hand over copies for simultaneous inspection.
• February or March 2027 – A second, half-day case management conference decides whether either side can call expert witnesses, and on what.
• 23 April 2027 – Signed witness statements exchanged. They must be in the witnesses’ own words and will stand as their main evidence at trial.
• 28 May 2027 – Deadline to apply for permission to serve supplemental witness statements.
• 10–19 July 2027 – The America’s Cup Match in Naples, with ownership of the boat still unresolved.
• 26 November 2027 – Progress monitoring date, when each side reports to the court on how preparations are going.
• Late 2027 – A two-hour pre-trial review in the second half of the Michaelmas term, which the parties can ask to cancel if it isn’t needed.
• 3 December 2027 – Electronic trial bundles completed.
• 22 December 2027 – Pre-trial checklists filed.
• 6 and 10 January 2028 – Ineos, then Athena, file their skeleton arguments.
• 12 January 2028 – Trial opens.

For Ainslie and GB1, this news should come as some relief: with no early ruling on the cards, the team looks set to race the modified Britannia in Naples. Whatever happens on the water there, the question of who owns the boat will have to wait for London.