First round of Audi IRC Championship a tie

by Di Pearson on 29 Jan 2008 Bob Steel, announced winner of Division 1 in the Audi Series last night and Peter Sorensen, the winner of Division 2, have found themselves tied in first place in the opening round of the prestigious Audi IRC Championship at Skandia Geelong Week this morning.

Steel, from Sydney, took his TP52 Quest crew to a marked win in the grand prix division, winning five of the seven-race series, while Sorensen, a renowned Sydney skiff sailor, won three out of seven races, placing second in two others with his Sydney 36CR Philosophers Club.

When the final scores were tallied, the two friends found they were tied for the leadership with three events of the series remaining.

The pair will hoist their Orange leadership flags aboard their respective yachts in the second round of the Championship, the Audi Sydney Harbour Regatta, to be hosted by Middle Harbour Yacht Club in Sydney from 1-2 March this year.

“Sorro used to be my friend, but of course we’re sworn enemies now,” Steel laughed.

“Actually, we’re very pleased with ourselves. We were a bit lucky to carry the disqualification (they were disqualified from a win in race 2 after a protest) and we were living with a bit of apprehension – the Passage Race could have been a small boat race and that would have been the end of us,” said Steel, who has not previously competed at Skandia Geelong Week.

“We’re definitely doing all the other Audi Championship events (Audi Sydney Harbour Regatta in March, Audi Sydney Gold Coast in July and Audi Hamilton Island Race Week in August) and have our eye on the Championship trophy – and the Audi car.

“We had a great tussle here with the other two TPs and with Beau Geste and Living Doll. We expect the competition to be as hard in the next events, but my crew did a great job here. I couldn’t have asked more of Jamie (MacPhail) my skipper and Julian Plante, they did a terrific job and I’m sure it will be the same in the following regattas and races,” Steel said.

Responding to Steel’s comments, Sorensen said: “I don’t like him anymore either – especially when it comes to winning the Audi Championship. I want to get my hands on a brand new Audi Q7 – I’m gonna win that car. I like the new Q7’s very much – so I’ll win it,” he said.

“We aimed for this Audi win. I spent some of my superannuation on buying a new Sydney 36CR in December which I’ve made some changes to. I added some of the best sailors out there including some skiff mates, Chris Cleary, Tony Hannan and Peter McIntyre.

'We trucked Philosophers Club here all the way from Sydney and we won – we smashed them. Wait till the next regatta, we’ll be twice as fast because we’ll more used to the boat, and we’re looking forward to that,” said the affable solicitor.

“We’re also looking forward to sailing at Skandia Geelong Week again next year. It just seems to be getting bigger and bigger and more competitive. It’s also great fun – a great place to come,” Sorensen said.

For all information, go to: www.geelongweek.com