Audi A1 team powered by ALL4ONE in training off Cascais. Image copyright Ainhoa Sanchez/Audi MedCup.
by Stephanie Nadin
The official training race was launched Tuesday afternoon in Cascais' bay, Portugal, for the first event of the Audi MedCup Circuit 2010, before the real competition's kick off Wednesday.
The 11 teams competing in the TP52 Class raced in a shifty wind from 10 to 15 knots, where the race committee was actually forced to change the race course twice. The tactician's job was not easy in particular for the first legs of Audi A1 Team powered by ALL4ONE, even if the team is really happy to be able to finally start the real sailing competition after a tough month of preparation to reach the start line.
They said:
Sebastien Col, Tactician: "We've sailed quite good, even if the result on the paper doesn't show it. The truth is that we discover a bit the game at the same time, as it is our second sailing day here as a team. It was a bit difficult, as we had a good start, but then we lost some places. We know where we stand in the fleet, we have to improve, and this is why we are here on this event, the goal being to be better in Marseille. The level is very high, but we don't miss much to make good races, even if it was not the case today. We mainly need more fluidity in the manoeuvres, better communication on board and decision-making. It is very high level racing, and even if all is correct on board, we have to reach excellence in a fleet like this one to look good, and we will work hard for that!"
Christian Scherrer, Jib Trimmer: « It was our first real contact with the other competitors. We've had only two days of training, everything was really fast set up, but it's really good to be out there. We're learning as fast as possible. It was a good day overall I would say, we still have plenty of things to do and we have to improve in terms of crew work and on the boat, but we're happy to be racing after a long month of preparation, and we're looking forward to the real race. »
The « real » competition will start tomorrow (Wednesday), and everybody knows that every point won will be important given the competition level offered by the teams.
Three races will be on the programme of the day Wednesday, with a wind forecast of 10 to 15 knots will increase during the coming days.
Audi A1 team powered by ALL4ONE in training off Cascais. Image copyright Ainhoa Sanchez/Audi MedCup.
Official Training Race TP52 Series
1. Cristabella (GBR)
2. Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL)
3. Matador (ARG)
4. Bribón (ESP)
5. Luna Rossa (ITA)
6. Bigamist 7 (POR)
7. Quantum Racing (USA)
8. TeamOrigin (GBR)
9. Audi A1 powered by ALL4ONE (FRA/GER)
10. Synergy (RUS), DNF
11. Artemis (SWE), DNF
Racing is live everyday on www.all4onechallenge.com/audia1thanks to Audi MedCup TV's player. (First start 13h00 local time).
ALL4ONE Challenge
Audi MedCup
