© Nico Martinez/WSM
by Stephanie Nadin
The teams have had to wait the wind today, but the two races of the day in the TP52 World championship in Valencia have been able to be launched this afternoon in a wind from 8 to 11 knots
Audi A1 powered by ALL4ONE finished 4th in the first race. After a very good start, the team didn't really feel well in terms of boat speed in the first beat, but rounded the two first marks in 3rd position. Then they chose to play on the left side of the race course in the second upwind leg, but it was a bit more favourable on the right. So Matador came back on the French-German team, and took the 3rd place over. Audi A1 powered by ALL4ONE rounded 4th at the mark as a consequence, and was forced to jibe several times in the last downwind leg to finish the race.
On the second race, it is another very good start for Audi A1 powered by ALL4ONE, but the shifty conditions and light winds don't make the team's work easy at all. Jochen Schümann and his crew finished 3rd on this race.
© Nico Martinez/WSM
Philippe Mourniac, Navigator: " It's mainly the conditions that made our day quite difficult in the end, that is to say the wind's strength and direction in particular, as these are the most important parameters. Sometimes the situation can even be totally different 100m away from where we are on the water. Then we were also involved in close contact situations too much with two or three boats each time, which forced us to jibe or to tack more than the others, and that make things more difficult."
Luke Molloy, Mainsail Trimmer: " today we had the light sea breeze that we expected. First race was a struggle as we got out of the line well, and sailed the first beat quite well, but dropped back and were under pressure from there. We finished 4th. That's not too bad as the race was really close. In the second race we had another good start, played the right a little bit that didn't pay off first, but then we had a good shift on the first downwind and battled with Synergy and Matador for 2nd and 3rd places. It was a tricky day in the end, which was not following any normal trend."
Provisional overall standings after 8 races
1. Quantum Racing - 22,5 points
2. Matador - 25,5 points
3. Synergy - 36 points
4. Artemis - 37 points
5. Cristabella - 39 points
6. Audi A1 powered by ALL4ONE - 39,5 points
7. Bigamist - 50,5 points
8. Pace - 65 points
9. Weapon of Choice - 70,5 points
ALL4ONE
TP52 Worlds
