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World Match-Racing Tour

Britain’s Ian Williams crowned match-racing World Champion

samedi 26 novembre 2011Redaction SSS [Source RP]

British sailor Ian Williams is the new ISAF Match Racing World Champion after defeating Italian Francesco Bruni in a tense quarter-final of the Monsoon Cup, the final event on the World Match Racing Tour World Match Racing Tour #WMRT . It is the second consecutive year that a British skipper has won the title after Ben Ainslie took the crown in 2010.

Williams, who won the Championship in 2007 and 2008, now joins Russell Coutts, Chris Dickson, Peter Gilmour and Ed Baird as only the fifth skipper to win the World Championship at least three times. Speaking after his victory, Williams paid tribute to his Team GAC Pindar crew of Bill Hardesty, Mal Parker, Gerry Mitchell and Matt Cassidy :

“It feels fantastic to have won our third world title ! We’ve had a really strong season - we won two regattas heading into the Monsoon Cup which is the most we’ve won in a season and we felt really strong as a team. They are fantastic and we can’t manage without any one member.

“The team pulls together when we are up against it and we were definitely up against it here, we pulled it out of the bag at a critical moment… It’s a massive release of emotions.”

A dejected Francesco Bruni (ITA) Bruni Racing, a skipper who was bidding to become the first Italian to capture the Championship, commented :

“Today was not my day. The team sailed great, there were a few small mistakes but really it came down to me and I was under performing and I feel sorry about that. We had good starts all week but today’s were the worst which shows my brain wasn’t working. It was all on me today and I was below my usual standard. Ian did a great job, he’s always a tough competitor.

“It has been a great season for us though and we’ve performed really well overall. Finishing this way today when we were so close to the Championship title is disappointing.”

The Monsoon Cup semi-finals were continuing at the time of the release going to press. Peter Gilmour (AUS) YANMAR Racing is currently 2-1 down against Berntsson however should the Australian win the Monsoon Cup, he will finish second in the World Championship.


Overall Championship Standings – after 7 stages :

  • 1 Ian Williams (GBR) Team GAC Pindar – 106pts
  • 2 Francesco Bruni (ITA) Bruni Racing – 100pts
  • 3 Torvar Mirsky (AUS) The Wave Muscat – 99.8pts
  • 4 Peter Gilmour (AUS) YANMAR Racing – 78.8pts
  • 5 Bjorn Hansen (SWE) Mekonomen Sailing Team – 75pts
  • 6 Damien Iehl (FRA) French Match Racing Team – 74pts
  • 7 Johnie Berntsson (SWE) Berntsson Sailing Team – 73.2pts
  • 8 Jesper Radich (DEN) Adrian Lee & Partners – 71.2pts
  • 9 Mathieu Richard (FRA) French Match Racing Team – 69.6pts
  • 10 Phil Robertson (NZL) Team China powered by WAKA Racing – 64.4pts


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