Francesco Bruni at the helm of Azzurra. Image copyright Bob Grieser/OutsideImages.co.nz
by Jill Campbell
Italy’s team Azzurra will certainly be celebrating at the party hosted by the title sponsor for participants in the Louis Vuitton Trophy tonight in Nice. The young Italian team took a breathtaking victory over British Team Origin this morning to conclude Round Robin 1 in second place, on equal points with the mighty Emirates Team New Zealand.
Today’s race, although held in light breezes of approximately 6 to 8 knots was one of the most exciting to date, highly technical and close-fought right up to the finish line. Team Origin took the lead towards the start of the upwind leg as Azzurra completed an immediate penalty turn for failing to keep clear. The British team skippered by triple gold-medallist Ben Ainslie covered the Italians closely up to the mark and rounded with 37 seconds to spare.
The Italians made a spectacular comeback on the downwind run and went through the bottom gate with a lead of just under one minute (56 seconds). Team Origin fought back on the final downwind leg, coming within 40 metres of Azzurra but failed to get past the Italians led by skipper Francesco Bruni and with America’s Cup veteran Tomasso Chieffi on tactics. Azzurra crossed the line 1 minute exactly ahead of TeamOrigin.
“Today was a tense and thrilling regatta, I have to thank the crew who are calm and professional in all conditions.” Said skipper and helmsman Francesco Bruni. I didn’t expect the team to be on equal points with ETNZ at the end of this round, that’s a great result but there is still a long way to go, we have to stay calm and concentrated as we have been up until now.
Azzurra closes Round Robin with 6 wins and one defeat at the hands of Emirates Team New Zealand.
Friday's Races
1: BMW Oracle beat Artemis
2: Team Origin beat ETNZ
3: Azzurra beat Team Origin
Provisional Rankings RR1 Wins/Losses
EMIRATES TEAM NEW ZEALAND 6/1
AZZURRA 6/1
TEAMORIGIN 5/2
BMW ORACLE RACING 3/3
ARTEMIS 3/4
SYNERGY RUSSIAN SAILING TEAM 2/4
ALL4ONE (Host Team) 2/5
TFS - PAGES JAUNES 0/7
Azzurra
Louis Vuitton Trophy
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