The second racing day of the Conde de Godo City of Barcelona Trophy and the Soto 40 fleet, which promises to be the strongest of the season, start racing today.
Conde de Godo Barcelona Trophy, 12 09 2011 © Nico Martinez Audi MedCup
Both 52 Series and the 40 Series fleets are scheduled to have two races. There is a certain divergence between the weather forecast models for today, one suggesting that the sea breeze might struggle to establish itself, the other predicts that it will come in, building to 12kts. But the overall picture looks like a more challenging day than the 52 Series enjoyed for their opening pair of races Tuesday.
For Quantum Racing, the Circuit leaders, a solid 3,2 brace establishes a momentum they will look to protect today. They opened a little more daylight on their principal rivals Audi Azzurra Sailing Team and Container yesterday. In the background yesterday’s excellent 1,3 opening day for Bribon sees the Spanish boat elevate themselves to third overall on the Circuit, whilst the duel between Synergy and RAN is also poised with the regatta leaders in Barcelona now just half a point behind the Russian team.
The Italian flagged team on Audi Azzurra need to bounce back after two fifth places yesterday with a couple of strong finishes today if they are to come back on Quantum Racing and extend on Bribon.
Conde de Godo Barcelona Trophy, 13 09 2011 © Guido Trombetta_Studio Borlenghi Audi MedCup
The 40 Series fleet sees the debut of two new teams. Olympic gold medallists Luis Doreste(ESP) and Domingo Manrique (ESP) who won Flying Dutchman gold here in 1992 are at the core of the Iberostar team with Javier Banderas (ESP). They sail the Noticias IV, while the second new team is on Patagonia. Bigamist, the Portuguese team which raced in Cascais, have a fundamental change here with Afonso Domingos on the helm.
Juan Luis Páez (ESP), Navigator, Iberdrola Team (ESP): “I think that the weather conditions for today are pretty open, not the typical Garbí form Barcelona, which is what we had yesterday. It seems that we are going to have a seabreeze with an influence from the Levante, and that will make the races a lot more open. It´s going to be interesting, with many options, these regattas are always really competitive and you need to be 100%. We have a new trimmer, highly experienced, and that´s good because it has not affected us. Both the trimmers that we´ve had are among the best you can have on board”.
Conde de Godo Barcelona Trophy, 14 09 2011 © Guido Trombetta_Studio Borlenghi Audi MedCup
Vasco Vascotto (ITA), Strategist, Audi Azzurra Sailing Team (ITA):
“The forecast for today says things are going to be tough out there again, with light conditions. RÁN´s sailing great, they´ve struggled at some points of the season but they are really in shape now, and its proves that anyone can win here in Barcelona. For us, the two fifths yesterday are obviously a bad result, but we are still there 8 and a half points away. With a good day we can solve this. We have to stay calm. Yesterday we saw the Barça-Milán football match, where a team dominated the whole time and the match ended up with a tie. That made us think, because if things like that happen in football it´s even more likely that they´ll happen on the race course. We´ll see how it goes out there today”.
