In previous editions of the nine-month marathon, one boat has generally taken the early advantage to all but ensure victory in the first leg between Spain and Cape Town, a distance of 6,487 nautical miles, well before day 20.
However, a new rule for the 2014-15 race, which says that all seven teams must sail in the same one-design boat, has dramatically levelled the playing field and each has held the lead at least once since the fleet set out for South Africa on October 11.
On Friday, only 26 miles separated the first four boats, with Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing narrowly ahead of Team Brunel (Netherlands), Dongfeng Race Team (China) and Team Vestas Wind (Denmark).
Abu Dhabi and Brunel's place among the leading pack is of little surprise, given they are led by extremely experienced skippers – Ian Walker (GB) on Abu Dhabi and Bouwe Bekking (Netherlands) on Brunel.
But few expected the Dongfeng team, featuring two novices from China, to be challenging for the lead at this stage and Vestas were even more unfancied after launching their campaign just six weeks before the start of the event.
A joint Turkish-American crew, Team Alvimedica, are some 60 nautical miles further adrift in fifth with Spanish boat MAPFRE and the all-women's crew of Team SCA bringing up the rear.
The fleet will shortly enter the notorious, high-wind Roaring 40s in the Southern Atlantic before the sprint to the finish in Cape Town culminating around November 5 or 6, depending on conditions.
The race will stop in Cape Town for a week-and-a-half for boat maintenance before resuming on November 19 when they head for Abu Dhabi.
In all, the fleet will visit 11 ports on every continent before the race concludes in Gothenburg, Sweden on June 27, 2015.