WMRT Match Race Germany - Morvan and Robertson on top form

by Leigh Ireland on 26 May 2012 At Match Race Germany, first round of the 2012 Alpari World Match Racing Tour, Pierre-Antoine Morvan and Phil Robertson lead the standings after impressive performances on the second day - while Bjorn Hansen looks likely to fall short of the knockout stages after a torrid time.

Yesterday’s light breeze gave way to perfect sailing conditions today on Lake Constance, with a wind speed of 10 to 15 knots allowing a packed day of racing to bring the qualification round into its latter stages.

Pierre-Antoine Morvan (FRA) Vannes Agglo Sailing Team won four of his five matches with his one defeat coming against Staffan Lindberg (FIN) Alandia Sailing Team, after he was given a black flag for accumulating three penalties. He said: 'It was an amazing day for us, losing only one match. We especially enjoyed beating both Peter Gilmour and Karol Jablonski, both World Champions who favour the bigger boats. We just need to focus hard on our remaining matches to give ourselves the best chance of qualifying first.'

Both Morvan and Robertson (NZL) WAKA Racing have an added incentive to finish top of the standings after the qualifying sessions as the first placed team will receive a bye to the semi-finals, just as Bruni did last year before going on to win the event. The quarter-finals will then be contested by the teams placed second to seventh.

Robertson reflected on the day’s success and the importance of his earlier match against Morvan: 'We’re pleased with our day, the boys worked well out there. Looking ahead, we lost an important race to Morvan this morning so we need him to post a few losses as he’s got the jump on us right now.'

Bjorn Hansen (SWE) Mekonomen Sailing Team will have little to take away from Match Race Germany, in confidence or points. After competing at Match Race Germany seven times, he has still ‘never come away with a good result.’

Reflecting on the day, he said: 'We won the side we wanted seven out of eight times but got it wrong on the first shift. Boat speed and manoeuvres were good but we tacked at the wrong times really. It feels like it’s just one of those days so we’ll come back from it and have Korea to look forward to.'

Jan-Eike Andresen (GER) MRV Match Race Team was another sailor to struggle here today and remains without a win to his name. When asked what he could have done differently to stem his run of defeats, he said: 'Sailing fast upwind would have helped! We lacked match practice and that showed in our handling which was poor.

'Was it about the level of opposition? No, not really. We had some great starts and held the lead several times but we committed some really basic errors which you cannot afford to do here.'

Laurie Jury (NZL) Kiwi Match and Eric Monnin (SUI) Team Okalys Corum sit ahead of a group of teams including Peter Gilmour (AUS) Yanmar Racing, Karol Jablonski (POL/GER) Jablonski Sailing Team and Keith Swinton (AUS) Black Swan Racing who stand on 4-4 and will hope to post a couple more wins tomorrow morning to see them through.

The third Qualifying Session starts on Saturday 26 May at 0900 local time (CDT).

Results after the Second Qualifying Session:

Pierre-Antoine Morvan (FRA) - Vannes Agglo Sailing Team 7-1
Phil Robertson (NZ) – WAKA Racing 7-1
Laurie Jury (NZ) - Kiwi Match 6-2
Eric Monnin (SUI) – Team Okalys-Corum 5-3
Peter Gilmour (AUS) – Yanmar Racing 4-4
Karol Jablonski (POL) – Jablonski Sailing Team 4-4
Keith Swinton (AUS) – Black Swan Racing 4-4
Simone Ferrarese (ITA) – Ferrarese Racing Team 3-5
Staffan Lindberg (FIN) – Alandia Sailing Team 3-5
Joachim Aschenbrenner (DEN) – Team Trifork 3-5
Bjorn Hansen (SWE) – Mekonomen Sailing 2-6
Jan-Eike Andresen (GER) – MRV Match Race Team World Match Racing Tour website