Class A leader pulls further ahead in points, while series results tighten at the top in Class B

Helsinki, Finland - On this penultimate day of racing at the Audi ORCi Offshore World Championship, the fleet enjoyed good breeze for their second and final offshore race, a 41.6-mile tour of the Gulf of Finland. As the seventh race in the series, entries in both classes can now discard their worst race, which has allowed the leading team in Class A to stretch their lead while it has only tightened the race in the Gold Fleet in Class B. The ultimate winner in each will be crowned the 2012 ISAF Offshore World Champion for their respective classes.

While leading the series from after the second day of racing, Alberto Rossi and his Italian Farr 40 Enfant Terrible finally scored their first outright victory in today's race, but only by 11 seconds in corrected time over Juss Ojala's Estonian GS 42 Amserv. But the dropping of their 18th place in Tuesday's Race 4 has now allowed them to vault forward in the standings to 14 points ahead of current runner-up, Thomas Blixt's Swedish TP52 Blixt Pro Sailing, who has also benefited from dropping their DNF in Race 2.

But Blixt is only 1 point ahead of the 2011 European Champion, Peter Schmidt and his German Evento 42 Silva Hispaniola. The Germans have had a comparatively consistent performance, dropping a 12.5 score earned in yesterday's Race 6, and no doubt will be fighting hard in tomorrow's final two races planned to overcome the gap with Rossi, the reigning World Champion from last year.

In contrast, the discards today have tightened the race in Class B, with Mihkel Kosk's Estonian NM38S Sugar 2 taking a narrow 2-point lead over Erik Van Vuuren's Dutch Salona 37 Lenco, who won today's race. But only two points back are two other contenders for the Class B crown: Vincenzo de Blasio's Italian NM38S Scugnizza and Patrik Forsgren's Swedish First 36.7 Team Arken Zoo. With two races left, even Juergen Klinghardt's German X-332 patent3, the 2010 Class B World Champion, is within striking distance at 10 points back.

So, it's all to play for tomorrow to determine the Class B World Champion crown.

In the Silver fleet, the race is tight as well, with Pauli Wetterstrand's Finnish Dufour 34 Ilmarinen leading the pack by only 5 points over Jyrki Santaholma's Finnish Elan 31 Merinna, who in turn is only two points ahead of Jonas Wistrom's Swedish GS 37B Amrone.

Inshore racing resumes at 1100 tomorrow, and since no race can start after 1400, we should know the new World Champions by mid-afternoon Helsinki time..

Sponsors for the Audi ORCi World Championship 2012 include Audi, Hi Q, North Sails, John Nurminen Marine, Lemonsoft, the City of Helsinki Sport Department, and Salona Yachts. 

Otto Aalto, Communications Director 

Dobbs Davis, ORC Media

 See l'Audi ORCi World images

Last Updated ( Saturday, 11 August 2012 )