Audi IRC Championship website
by Craig Heydon
Yachting Australia has launched a new website to bring the Audi IRC Australian Championship to life online.
The new website, which is located at www.irc.yachting.org.au, contains information for competitors, fans and media alike on Australia’s only national championship for IRC rated yachts.
Whether it’s news, photos, video or team biographies, the new Audi IRC Australian Championship site will house all the information needed to stay on top of the action both on and off the water.
Yachting Australia CEO Phil Jones said that the new site was designed to become the home, and hub, for the Audi IRC Australian Championship online.
“The Audi IRC Australian Championship continues to grow and the four Audi sponsored events which make up the championship this year are some of Australia’s highest profile regattas,” said Mr Jones.
“With this in mind Yachting Australia has developed a website to bring together the four events, while also creating an online home for the IRC rating in Australia,” he said. “We currently have the Audi Sailing Sport website, and the four individual event websites, and while they are all impressive websites which work well in isolation we felt that there was a need to bring all of the components together in one place.”
“The new Audi IRC Australian Championship website is designed to grow the presence of the series online, inform and entertain those who are already involved in the sport, and bring new fans to sailing,” said Mr Jones.
A key element of the new website is the teams section, where visitors can find a wealth of information on the crews competing in the Audi IRC Australian Championship.
The teams section will continue to grow over time, as new boats join the championship and the stories of those already racing develop. Boat owners and crews are encouraged to contact Amy Howie or Susan Veal at Yachting Australia to update their information as the championship progresses.
For 2011, the Audi IRC Australian Championship has undergone a number of changes, with the creation of three racing classes being the major difference from previous years. After just one round this has already resulted to close, exciting, racing across the classes and via the website sailing fans can keep track of which boats are at the head of the pack with a leaderboard on the front page.
“Sailing embodies the Audi Vorsprung durch Technik philosophy perfectly. Since the creation of the Audi IRC Australian Championship in 2006, the sport has enjoyed a greater profile, a larger fleet across all four Audi sponsored events and an increase in the level of competition”, said Uwe Hagen, managing director, Audi Australia.
Also available on the front page are video highlights of the championship, with clips from the official YouTube channel, www.youtube.com/AudiIRC, available for viewing through the site.
Visitors will be able to find information on the four events within the Audi IRC Australian Championship, Audi Victoria Week, Audi Sydney Harbour Regatta, Audi Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race and Audi Hamilton Island Race Week, including event history and links.
The new website also highlights the photography of Audi IRC Australian Championship official photographer, Andrea Francolini. Francolini’s images are synonymous with the championship and new shots will be uploaded at the end of each event.
Live tracking, via the TracTrac system which will be used at a number of rounds, and results will also be available through the Audi IRC Australian Championship website.
Audi IRC Australian Championship
