GP42 Global Cup final day - Consistency pays

by Sail-World.com/GP42 on 18 Oct 2009
2009 GP42 Global Cup final day and consistency pays.

For Filippo Faruffini's Roma 2 (ITA) the prize for their excellent teamwork and good boatspeed throughout the event was first place on the podium.

Coming into the final day, Roma 2 enjoyed a nine point lead over nearest rival Islas Canarias Puerto Calero (ESP).

The Italian team lead by helmsman Paolo Cian (ITA) needed only to finish within three points of the local-based team to claim the overall GP42 Global Cup crown. On paper, this looked easily achievable, but the highly-competitive nature of this class means nothing is predictable, especially in the perfect 14-17 knot conditions of today's racing.

In the first race, for example, the two front-runners found themselves tangled up with each other and Team Nordic, all fighting for a pin-end start as the fasted path to the favored left side of the course. Aggressive maneuvers between the three resulted in flags, shouting from the teams, and a whistle from the on-water jury before the three disentangled and set off for the left corner. Keeping clear of the fight with an perfectly-timed start in the middle of the line, Javier Goizueta’s (ESP) Caser-Endesa (ESP) took and held the lead for their second win of the series. Roma’s (ITA) third place and Islas Canarias Puerto Calero’s (ESP) second place in this race closed the point gap down to eight, but there were still two races left.

In the second race, Team Nordic (SWE) was this time nowhere to be found, having dropped out for an unrepairable gear failure on their deckhouse, yet somehow Roma and Islas Canarias Puerto Calero got tangled up, fighting yet again for the pin. The Italian team won the fight this time, forcing the Canarians to tack away and duck the rest of the fleet coming off the line on starboard tack, but Roma paid the price of being slow and barely able to clear the pin end.

Yet this power of the pin kicked in further up the leg, allowing Roma to stay close and hang on as the breeze built and Islas Canarias Puerto Calero found a favorable lane on the right side and put her awesome boatspeed in these conditions to work and take the lead. With Caser-Endesa having to fight off a late charge made by Jose Maria van der Ploeg’s (ESP) Turismo Madrid (ESP), and the two finishing overlapped with Caser-Endesa in the lead by a mere metre, Roma was able to go into the final race with a strong position: a 7-point gap now with the local Canarias team and only one race left.

In this race Caser-Endesa this time took the pin for themselves, and in a playbook now very familiar after four days of racing, they led to the left corner, crossed everyone close to the layline, led around the top mark and offset, and simply continued to lead around the track to extend to victory. Islas Canarias Puerto Calero had tried repeatedly to get into a passing lane, and for a while Caser-Endesa would make aggressive covering manouevers to prevent this, but the 3-point gap needed to fill with other boats to take the runner-up position from the local favorites just couldn’t be overcome, so Caser-Endesa, with owner Javier Goizueta (ESP) on board as a guest, had to settle for being third overall but satisfied as winner of the day on scores of 1-3-1, their best day of the series and second time being champions for the day.

So, Bravo! to Faruffini, Cian, and all the members of the victorious Roma team: Gabriele Benussi (ITA), Paolo Bottari (ITA), Santino Brizzi (ITA), Pierluigi Formelli (ITA), Fabio Montefusco (ITA), Salvatore Pavoni (ITA), Matis Picornell (ESP), and Enrico Zennaro (ITA).

This is the final event of the GP42 season, after an impressive debut in this year’s Audi MedCup’s five stages, an Owner-Driver Championship in Cascais, and this spectacular Global Cup finale in Lanzarote.

Paolo Cian (ITA) skipper, Roma 2 (ITA): 'This was a hard-fought victory for us, and a long time in coming. The MedCup did not go our way – the Puerto Calero team have a fast boat and they did a very good job – but I think our teamwork and hard efforts finally paid off here. This is a great victory for the entire Roma team.'

Matias Picornell (ESP), navigator, Roma 2 (ITA): 'Not winning the MedCup was a real lesson for us, but we learned a lot and have finally put all that to work here in Lanzarote. We hope we can use this again next year to continue our success here.'

Juan Luis Páez (ESP), helmsman Caser-Endesa (ESP): 'It's been a good day today, although we are a bit disappointed too. We've won two races today, and were third in another one, so I think we kind of deserved being second...but Islas Canarias Puerto Calero were very strong today. I think the three first boats, Roma, Islas Canarias Puerto Calero, and us, we've set a difference with the rest of the fleet.'

José María Ponce (ESP), helmsman Islas Canarias Puerto Calero (ESP): 'The protest [between us and Roma] has been dismissed, because we've not presented it in time, so they haven't even looked at it. In any case Roma has been very consistent, and in regards with the protest, I think we would have won it. Anyway I think we've done a great job today, despite our starts, which were all very complicated.'

Paolo Cian (ITA), helmsman Roma II (ITA):'The truth is that it would have been very disappointed to end up losing the championship [due to a protest] after our consistency. But the GP42’s are like football, you have to wait until the last minute. And I already said it yesterday, that we had to wait, because things could change. This is one of the most equal fleets there is in sailing.'

The next event for the GP42 class will be at next year’s Audi MedCup Circuit Stage One in May, 2010 in Portugal.

Puerto Calero GP42 Global Cup
Final Results

1. Roma (ITA, Paolo Cian), 4+2+3+1+2+2+1+3+1+3+2+3= 27 points
2. Islas Canarias Puerto Calero (ESP, José María Ponce), 5+5+1+3+1+3+6+1+3+2+1+2= 33 points
3. Caser-Endesa (ESP, Juan Luis Páez), 7+4+2+2+3+1+3+2+5+1+3+1= 34 points
4. Turismo Madrid (ESP, José María Van der Ploeg), 2+1+4+5+5+4+5+4+4+6+4+4= 48 points
5. Quebramar Xacobeo 2010 (POR, Felipe Regojo), 1+7+5+4+4+5+2+5+6+4+7+5= 55 points
6. Airis (ITA, Roberto Monti), 3+3+6+6+6+6+4+6+2+5+5+6= 58 points
7. Península Petroleum (GBR, John Bassadone), 9(OCS)+6+7+7+7+7+7+7+7+7+6+7= 84 points
8. Nordic Team (SWE, Magnus Olsson), 6+8+8+8+8+8+9(DNS)+8+8+8+9(DNC)+9(DNC)= 97 points