Eventful last day of Preliminary Regatta for Alinghi Red Bull Racing

Alinghi Red Bull Racing’s final race in the Preliminary Regatta against the Italian squad was also their most action-packed. Today Barcelona lived up to its reputation for changeable conditions as the Challengers navigated a shifty course marked by larger swells and easterly wind. The neck-and-neck match race started with a strong lead for the Swiss but ultimately went to Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli, with the Swiss team placing fifth overall in the preliminary rankings.

 Today Alinghi Red Bull Racing came out strong and took an early lead off the start line with an OCS penalty given to the Italian boat. However, after BoatOne came off its foils midway through the second leg, Italy managed to close the gap, keeping up the pressure and going on to win the race. In the final winner-takes-all match, the Kiwis beat Italy to be crowned winner of the preliminary regatta. Now there is a three-day break from competition that Alinghi Red Bull Racing will use to focus on speed gains ahead of the Louis Vuitton Cup beginning on Thursday 29th August.

Click here for today’s race results and final standings.

Maxime Bachelin, Helmsman: “We’ve definitely made good progress on our starts this week. Today we noticed that the Italian boat was a bit early, so they had a lot of time to kill. We took the opportunity to extend a bit and tried to push them, and it worked. Every day we’ve been improving on the pre-start, and it’s a big advantage to have our team of coaches giving us feedback on what they see from outside. I think the team is managing it well, and we’re on a steep learning curve for the next races.”

We still want to focus a lot on the pre-starts. I believe 90% of the win is determined by the start. We’ll be working to make the boat faster during the race and for sure, we’ll be working on our technique as sailors, together with the Driving Group and the cyclors.”

Barnabé Delarze, Cyclor: “It's great to have the buzz of racing, the crowd cheering, and being side by side with another boat, but it's also different to what we're used to as rowers and cyclists. There are a lot of factors that we can't really control, how the guys sail the boat, the actual speed of the boat, the conditions, the opponents. So it's very different, but personally it's great to be racing again.”

“This week it was great overall to have a full dress rehearsal and see how the other teams perform. We made some mistakes that we can correct and make sure we don't make those mistakes again. We know we’re competitive in some areas, and some areas we have to improve on, so that's what we’ll be looking at to come back stronger for next week.”

Silvio Arrivabene, Co-General Manager: “Today the guys executed the start plan well. They managed to put some pressure on the other boat, forcing them to go early, so some good match racing. Now obviously we need to address what happened in the second leg, when we had an issue in the gybe. But apart from that, I think we showed that we were in the race, we were leading it, and we stayed close to the leaders afterwards. So it’s a pretty good way to finish the week, really.”

“The focus during this regatta has been on practising race scenarios, not just straight-line speed when you’re alone on the water, but next to another boat, fighting for one side of the course, defending that side, and so on. There is only so much you can do in isolation. Racing is what truly helps you grow in this sport, so this preliminary regatta has been extremely valuable as it’s the only short window before the actual race next week to assess where we stand.”