Puma will participate in the Volvo Ocean Race 2011-2012 after placing 2nd second overall in the 2008-2009 competition.The race begins in October 2011 in Alicante, Spain and ends in Galway, Ireland in June 2012. The eight stopovers include: Cape Town, Abu Dhabi, Sanya (China), Auckland, Itajai (Brazil), Miami, Lisbon and Lorient (France). The Puma Ocean Racing team will once again be under the leadership of skipper Ken Read. Puma will also be the official supplier of all Volvo Ocean Race merchandise.The team's budget is expected to be in the region of US$25 million."We are proud of Puma Ocean Racing's success in the last Volvo Ocean Race and look forward to the adventures this next race will bring," said Jochen Zeitz, Puma AG chairman and chief executive."Both the team and the company hope to leverage the key lessons from the last VOR campaign in order to continue spreading the good will of the program and Puma worldwide. The Volvo Ocean Race is one of the world's iconic sporting events. It proved to be an extremely successful marketing tool for us and an important launch pad for the sailing product category. We look forward to building the sailing category even more throughout the next race, as well as expanding into other forms of outdoor lifestyle ventures."For the 2011-2012 race, Puma Ocean Racing has partnered with Berg Propulsion, one of the world's leading designers and producers of controllable pitch propellers for commercial shipping. Berg Propulsion products are designed and engineered with the reduction of adverse environmental impact in mind, striving to bring fuel savings and environmental benefits to every product."This is a key addition to our campaign," stated Antonio Bertone, chief marketing officer, Puma AG. "Berg CEO Hakan Svensson and his entire company are a perfect fit with our operation. As a life-long competitive sailor himself, Hakan understands the sport, the race and how Berg can utilise the race to help build and market their global company."Team selection efforts are already underway and will likely include a number of sailors from Puma's 2008-2009 team, plus a mix of new and veteran talent from the professional racing world. Training will begin onboard Puma's il mostro in Spring 2010 at the team's homebase in Newport, Rhode Island. [Via]