MedCup Region of Murcia Trophy - Azzurra readies for final battle

by Giuliano Luzzatto on 29 Aug 2011 Audi MedCup’s Region of Murcia Trophy has now closed for Audi Azzurra Sailing Team in Cartagena with a second place finish. Azzurra still awaits the final battle against Quantum which will take place in Barcelona in September. Quantum currently leads the circuit by only three and a half points.

Following yesterday's unfortunate breakage, Audi Azzurra Sailing Team fought back as promised and led the first regatta for some time before being overtaken by Synergy and Bribon - both extremely fast downwind - close to the finish line. Azzurra's third place was nevertheless positive, particularly in light of the lack lustre performances of Quantum and Container who finished sixth and seventh respectively. The wind filled in for the second race and Azzurra struggled to recover from a poor start that left them towards the back end of the fleet for some time.

However the crew of the boat flying the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda's burgee gave a lesson in never giving up and after making up ground on Container, metre after metre and gust after gust, they were able to overtake the German boat on the second windward leg.

Aided by a double penalty inflicted on Ran, the team started the final downwind leg in fourth place. Perfect manoeuvres with the boat planing and inspired tactics allowed Azzurra to pass Bribon and Quantum, direct rivals of the Italian team in both this leg and the circuit. The regatta was won by Audi All4One followed by Audi Azzurra Sailing Team: further proof, if any more were needed, of the team's character in view of the final event of the Audi MedCup circuit in Barcelona from 12th September.

Vasco Vascotto, strategist aboard Azzurra, arrived in port beaming and was immediately interviewed by the television crews present: 'We are very happy with the result achieved after the gear failure we had yesterday, which wasn't easy to swallow. We told ourselves that it wasn't a crucial problem and that we were doing well; this morning we arrived on board smiling and wanting to sail well. We made a few mistakes today, as everyone does, but we made a lot more good decisions. Congratulations to Bribon on their win, they were a great opponent, they deserved this victory but we'll all meet again in Barcelona.'

'We are very pleased with how we raced,' declared tactician Francesco Bruni, 'apart from the first upwind leg of the second race which we were able to correct immediately with a recovery that made this day even better. We finished second but more importantly we are right beside Quantum: just three and a half points separate us from the top of the Audi MedCup circuit.'

Region of Murcia Trophy Classification:

1- Bribon p. 25
2- Audi Azzurra Sailing Team p. 28
3- Quantum Racing p. 38,5
5- Audi by All4One p. 39,5
4- Container p. 43
6- Synergy Russian Sailing Team p. 43,5
7- Ran p. 48,5

Audi MedCup Circuit Classification:

1- Quantum Racing p. 129,5
2- Audi Azzurra Sailing Team p. 133
3- Container p. 141
4- Bribon p.147,5
5- Synergy Russian Sailing Team p.164,5
6- Audi by All4One p.167,5
7- Ran p. 174
8- Gladiator p. 303,5

Audi Azzurra website
Audi MedCup website