2015 Melges 20 European Championship at Trapani, Italy - Day 1
by International Audi Melges 20 Class Association 4 Sep 2015 10:04 BST
3-5 September 2015
Four races, four winners
Cream of the crop rises to the top in Trapani - Cali, Levi, Miani and Morozov each grab a bullet on opening day
Four races opened the 2015 European Championship/Audi-Tron Sailing Series Act 5 organized by B.Plan Sport & Events (BPSE) in cooperation with Melges Europe. The competitive nature of the Audi Melges 20 fleet was on full display as each race produced a unique winner - some brand spanking new to the fleet, others not so new at all.
The day opened with great celebration as teams watched fleet newcomer Marco Cali on Zenhea win Race One in high-class Audi Melges 20 style! It was a wire-to-wire performance for Cali with Guido Miani's Out of Reach coming on strong early to finish second, followed by Russia's Igor Rytov on RUS-296.
2015 Audi-Tron Sailing Series circuit leader Dario Levi on Fremito D'Arja got off the starting line with all pistons firing to win Race Two over Agusto Corrado's Customly finishing second. Japan's Norikatsu Aizawa's Contious had a great race to take third.
"It was a simple day of sailing really, apart from making sure we caught all the right wind shifts," said Stefano Lagi, trimmer aboard Fremito D'Arja. "The fleet was fierce today and there are some new teams making it all the more challenging."
Under light breezes, Race Three belonged to Miani. Miani proved that Cali was not the only one who could take the lead from start to finish and win in light and tricky conditions. Levi chased Miani around the track but could do no better than second, followed by Oleg Evdokimenko's Kotyara in third.
The final race of the day went to Russia's Yuriy Morozov's Russotrans. One of the fleet's toughest teams, Morozov battled hard to win just ahead of Mirko De Falco's Peccere in second and Vladimir Prosikhi's Nika in third. Matteo Marenghi Vaselli's Lucifer and Miani rounded out the top five in fourth and fifth respectively.
More racing is scheduled for Friday, 4 September where the heat will be on. Three points separate Levi and De Falco. Miani sits third overall going into Day Two in Trapani.
Media and Racing Coverage
As with other Audi Melges 20 events in Europe and around the world, racing updates will be posted online at the Official Audi Melges 20 Facebook Page. Tune in for the latest racing information, results, video interviews, and photos. Race reports, press releases and photos will be made available online each day post racing at melges20.com.
Live Streaming
The 2015 Audi Melges 20 European Championship will be streamed live with Italian and English commentary by Zerogradinord and BPSE. Racing commences on Thursday, so be sure to visit this viewing link for all the action!
Results after Day 1: (top ten, 4 races)
1.) Dario Levi, Fremito D' Arja; 4-1-2-8 = 15pts
2.) Mirko de Falco, Peccere; 6-6-4-2 = 18pts
3.) Guido Miani, Out of Reach; 2-13-1-5 = 21pts
4.) Oleg Evdokimenko, Kotyara; 10-7-3-9 = 29pts
5.) Geoff Carveth, Audi G-Tron F.lli Giacomel; 9-5-10-6 = 30pts
6.) Agusta Corrado, Customly; 5-2-1-12 = 38pts
7.) Matteo Marenghi Vaselli, Lucifer; 13-10-11-4 = 38pts
8.) Vladimir Prosikhi, Nika; 21-11-5-3 = 40pts
9.) Marco Cali, Zenhea; 1-17-7-18 = 43pts
10.) Manfredi Vianini Tolomei, Maolca; 14-4-13-14 = 45pts
In addition to main sponsor Audi, the Audi-Tron Sailing Series is supported by official sponsors Kuehne+Nagel, Technical Partners Torqeedo, Caffe Vergnano, Bavaria, Usail, Nuova Jolly and The Suite Club.