Azzurra claim back-to-back wins

Audi Azzurra Sailing Team claimed back-to-back line honours victories on day two of the Copa del Rey, and catapulted into the top spot on the overall IRC 1 division rankings.

The Italian/Argentinean team dominated the second race from the start to claim their second race-win in Palma Bay on Tuesday, in a tough contest where the top five finishers were separated by just 17 seconds.

Double Olympic silver medallist and skipper of Provezza Nick Rogers posted his team’s best result yet to finish second, followed by Audi Sailing Team powered by All4One, PowerPlay and Gladiator.

Former IRC 1 leaders Paprec struggled to find the winning form that shot them to the top of the leaderboard at the end of day one, finishing sixth over the line in the second race.

Azzurra also won on IRC, Provezza was second, followed by PowerPlay and Gladiator.

Right from the get-go Azzurra and All4One continued their close-quarters combat in race two, shadowing each other move for move before and after the start signal sounded, followed closely by Paprec.

All4One were the first to tack right and were soon followed by Azzurra and Paprec, while Gladiator and PowerPlay continued to play the left, having started from the opposing pin end.

The teams continued a hard fought 2.5 nautical mile upwind battle against a westerly wind ranging from 10 to 15 knots, which claimed 52 team Aifos who were forced to retire with damage.

Azzurra held their lead, rounding the first gate in first place less than five seconds ahead of PowerPlay. Gladiator rounded in third place, and opted split from the leading pair and round the left gate to again play the left side.

All4One slipped to fourth, followed by Provezza, Paprec and Aquila.

Azzurra held nerve against repeated challenges from the hotly contested fleet to claim their second consecutive win of the day.

Rán remain leaders in IRC 0 after finishing second for the second time on Tuesday, despite Highland Fling claiming two wins for the day.