Image copyright © Ainhoa Sanchez/Audi MedCup.
by Stephanie Nadin
The Region of Sardinia Trophy is the fifth and last stage of the Audi MedCup 2010, and will take place this week in Cagliari, South of Sardinia, September 20-25. Only three weeks after the last competition took place in Cartagena, the teams were back to work on the TP52 boats this week-end, with already two training days completed on Saturday and Sunday, and that allowed to experience two types of weather conditions: light winds on Saturday, and strong breeze up to 22 knots on Sunday!
Audi A1 powered by ALL4ONE starts the event with the will to come back in the top of the fleet in this regatta, in order to finish the season as well as the team had started it in Cascais and in Marseille. The goal is totally realistic and reachable for the French-German team, who concluded racing with a nice last day in Cartagena at the end of August, and in particular with a second place on the last race.
Audi A1 powered by ALL4ONE stands in the 7th place of the provisional general ranking after four events (the French-German team finished 2nd in Cascais, 3rd in Marseille, 11th in Barcelona, and 9th in Cartagena).
Image copyright © Ian Roman/Audi MedCup.
Sebastien Col, Tactician: "The goal is to find again the good sensations that we had at the beginning of the season. With a second place in Cascais and a third place in Marseille, we have showed that we could do well, but we also missed opportunities like in Barcelona and Cartagena. So it is important for us to have a good finish here in Cagliari for this last event of the Audi MedCup 2010. After Cartagena, we really achieved to identify our weak points and our work targets, which we didn't really manage to do well after Barcelona. Last but not least, we have a better knowledge of the race course here, as we sailed in Cagliari a few times in the past: the bay is quite closed with many mountains around, and most of the time there are two opposite wind directions that can establish themselves in the bay: a North-West wind or a South-East one. So it is really interesting to sail here, as there are a lot of tricks to play with, and I feel confident as I was in Marseille a bit earlier this season."
Luke Molloy, Mainsail trimmer: "the plan is to finish the way we started: on the podium. It's been a tough year for us in the middle, and we finished with a second place in the last race of the last event, so hopefully we can bring it forward and finish the season the way we started, and wrap up a good year with good TP52 Worlds after this event as well. We worked a lot since the last event on a few improvement areas, speed wise but also with the way we sail the boat and how we start. So we're looking at improving in this regatta step by step."
Audi A1 powered by ALL4ONE is taking part today to the official practice race, before the competition starts tomorrow (Tuesday).
Racing is live every day on ALL4ONE's website
For this fifth event of the Audi MedCup 2010 circuit, the team is formed of:
Jochen Schümann GER - Skipper and Helmsman (3 America's Cup - 2 wins, 3 Olympic gold medals, and 1 Olympic silver medal)
Jean-Marie Dauris FRA - Bow (2 America's Cup)
Michi Müller GER - Foredeck-grinder (1 America's Cup, 1 Volvo Ocean Race)
Albert Jacobsoone FRA - Pit (7 America's Cup)
Gilles Favennec FRA - Foredeck-grinder (2 America's Cup, Equipe de France de Match Racing with Sebastien Col)
Sébastien Co FRA - Tactician (2 America's Cup, Equipe de France de Match Racing, Helmsman for team ALL4ONE in Louis Vuitton Trophy)
Philippe Mourniac FRA - Navigator (3 America's Cup, multihull)
Christian Scherrer SUI - Jib trimmer (4 America's Cup - 1 win, Whitbread)
Peter van Niekerk NED - Spinnaker trimmer-grinder (2 America's Cup - 2 wins)
Jorge Ondo ESP - Grinder (1 America's Cup)
Paolo Bassani ITA - Floater and boat captain (3 America's Cup, Whitbread)
Luke Molloy AUS - Main sail trimmer (1 America's Cup, Volvo Ocean Race)
Audi A1 Team powered by ALL4ONE
Audi MedCup
