Formula 18 World title summary

by Olivier Bovyn (As Amended by ISAF) on 21 Jul 2006 152 teams from eleven nations contested the Formula 18 World title in Hyères last week with the title eventually going to the Hans and Christian SACH from Germany. In a high class field of competitors including a large contingent of young teams, light and shifty conditions mixed up the results.

After a long and patient qualification series, due to a very light and shifty wind on day 4 and day 5, the final day offered conditions very similar for and it became clear that no discard would be possible during the finals in both the gold and silver fleets.

By the end of the qualification series positions were very close with Jean Christoph MOURNIAC and Franck CITEAU (FRA) holding the lead with 12 points. Helge and Christian SACH (GER) were close behind them on 13 points with the young French Tornado squad of Billy BESSON and Arnaud JARLEGAN in third on 15.

Behind this leading group, a second pack including multiple world champion Darren BUNDOCK and Glenn ASHBY (AUS) 2005 Tornado World Champions Fernando ECHAVARRI and Anton PAZ (ESP) were still ini the hunt for a medal. Fourth placed BUNDOCK and ASHBY went into the finals with 26 points after retiring from Race 5 and finishing 18 in Race 6 marring their previously excellent scorecard with their worst position a third.

A Black Flag for BESSON and JARLEGAN in the first race of the finals series threw away any chance they had for a podium finish as all scores from the finals had to be counted. Conversely, the SACH brothers had a fantastic final three races, finishing fourth, first and second to add just seven more points to the overal total. BUNDOCK and ASHBY posted even better results but the German teams cushion from the qualifying series gave them the title with a 13 point margin.

The bronze medal went to Andrew LANDENBERGER and Felix ENGER (GER) who had a solid finals score to lift them from 19 place after qualification.

Final Positions:
1 GER Helge SACH Christian SACH 5 2 1 13 3 2 4 1 2 20
2 AUS Darren BUNDOCK Glenn ASHBY 1 3 2 2 RAF 18 3 3 1 33
3 GER Andrew LANDENBERGER Felix EGNER 14 22 3 14 1 36 6 2 4 66
4 FRA Jean Christoph MOURNIAC Franck CITEAU 2 1 2 4 5 3 10 22 36 80
5 NED Wouter SAMAMA Jeroen VAN LEEUWEN 6 6 16 34 18 5 5 13 12 81
6 FRA Francois MORVAN Mathieu VANDAME 8 10 10 10 2 9 25 9 14 87
7 FRA Thibaut VAUCHEL-CAMUS Jeremie LAGARRIGUE 3 8 21 1 14 13 1 10 42 92
8 NED Remco KENBEEK Paul BROUWER 3 28 DSQ 8 7 1 8 35 6 96
9 FRA Christophe RENAUD Alban ROSSOLLIN 15 9 15 3 8 8 16 18 21 98
10 FRA Thomas SELLIER Frederic MOREAU 31 13 7 1 4 20 29 7 29 110