On the final day Hugues Lepic’s Aleph Racing took a race win and then a fouth place to secure a nine point overall victory at the Adris 44Cup Rovinj.
This was the first time since joining the class nine years ago that Aleph Racing has ever won an event on the high performance one design circuit.
“It is an amazing feeling,” said Lepic, dripping after taking his victor’s plunge in the water of the ACI Marina Rovinj. “I like the class very much – the boat, the crews, the owners and the format, but I have never managed to get to this level. It is great to have this for the first time.”
The team, which has Italian maestro Michele Ivaldi calling tactics, was top scorer on Friday, won two races from three yesterday and one from two today.
So how did this come about? “All of our starts were good – starting fast and with good space helped a lot,” explained Lepic. “Then it was a case of executing, not losing our cool, and making sure that everything we have learned over the years came together. We had a bit of luck as well . . .”
In the final race Tavatuy Sailing Team, on their inaugural 44Cup season this year, won their first ever race.
Pavel Kuznetsov’s team, on which leading match racer Evgeny Neugodnikov calls tactics, rounded first and as the wind began to fade and the course was shortened, they were still in front at the line.
Banging in podium positions in both Sunday’s races was enough to earn Nico Poons’ Charisma second overall, a fine turnaround from their last place in Montenegro.
Charisma’s performance was enough to displace Torbjörn Törnqvist’s Artemis Racing into third.
With Sarah Gundersen standing in for Törnqvist here, the Swedish team has had a generally outstanding four days and at the end of day two was tied on points for the overall lead. However a deep result in today’s first race, caused them to finish a point behind Charisma.
Next event is the 44Cup World Championship 2019 in Marstrand, Sweden over 9-13 July.
Adris 44Cup Rovinj – Final Results after 9 races
1st Aleph Racing (17) Hugues Lepic – – 26 pts
2nd Charisma (15) Nico Poons 7, 1, 9, 1 – – 35 pts
3rd Artemis Racing (26) Torbjörn Törnqvist – – 36 pts
4th Peninsula Petroleum (22) John Bassadone5, – – 43 pts
5th Team CEEREF (11) Igor Lah – – 44 pts
6th Team Nika (10) Vladimir Prosikhin – – 49 pts
7th Team Aqua (25) Chris Bake – – 52 pts
8th Bronenosec Sailing Team (18) V. Liubomirov & K. Frolov – – 53 pts
9th Tavatuy Sailing Team (21) Pavel Kuznetsov – – 68 pts
