The six national teams that will participate in the week’s races and will try to reach the victory in the Audi Sardinia Cup 2012 were given a warm welcome by Audi Azzurra Sailing Team as well as the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda.

The Audi Sardinia Cup 2012 sailors receive a warm welcome by Azzurra and the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda Credit: Carlo Borlenghi/AZZURRA

Azzurra and the other TP52 and Soto 40 yachts started training today, off the waters of Porto Cervo in view of the Audi Sardinia Cup, the sailing championship for national teams that the YCCS has been organizing every two years since 1978. Racing will start on Tuesday, June 12th with the practice race and will then continue in full earnest from Wednesday until Sunday, June 17th.

Both classes will also compete for their own ranking: the Soto 40’s will be battling out for the European Championship while for the TP52’s this will be the third event of the 52 Super Series, currently led by Quantum on equal points with Azzurra. The combined score of each country, in the TP52 and Soto 40 classes, will count towards the Sardinia Cup Challenge Trophy. Audi Azzurra Sailing Team will obviously carry the Italian colors, together with Andres Soriano’s Alegre in the Soto 40 class.

“I am pleased to welcome at the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda the competitors of the Audi Sardinia Cup 2012 – stated Commodore Riccardo Bonadeo. This year, the national teams will compete onboard the one-design Soto 40’s and the TP52 racers, including our own Azzurra. These two classes represent the state of the art in yachting technology and, combined with northern Sardinia‘s incomparable race area, will offer a show in the tradition of this race, a classic in international yachting that began back in 1978. ”

The six participating countries are: Sweden, USA, Great Britain, France, Cayman Islands and, obviously, Italy.