April 27 was the last day of the kick-off stage for the J/70 Italian Open National Championship started from Monaco in March and featuring 25 J/70s from three different countries. Despite some spring weather tantrums over the weekend, the Alcatel Onetouch supported event turned out to be a tremendous success, all made possible by the great organization of the local Yacht Club and partner Gill. It was Alessio Marinelli on Uji Uji along with tactician Sandro Iseri who won the second staging act of the Italian circuit; tied with equal points in second place is local Franco Solerio’s L’elagain with Daniele Cassinari calling tactics. Monaco’s duo of Guido Miani and Massimo Benussi on Ange Tranparent finishes out the podium in third. Saturday’s opening day brought very light wind which made races very tactical and produced some tough match-ups, above all the tightly fought duel between Solerio and Marinelli who won both races by a whisker. Similarly, on either the first and second race, Ange Trasparent and Luca Domenici’s Notaro Team took third and fourth respectively. On the second day, more favorable winds opened the door for a highly-competitive final day of action and the reigning Italian and European J/70 champion Carlo Alberini’s Calvi Network, with Branko Brcin calling tactics, won two of the three heats, while Solerio’s L’elagain took his first win on the penultimate race. Despite Marinell’s win in Sanremo, in the end of the circuit consistency paid off and team L’elagain won the first stage of the J/70 Alcatel Onetouch Italian Trophy. However, the level of high performance racing embodied by top J/70 teams such as Calvi Network and Swedish Ingemar Sunsted’s Rocad Racing promises a very intense battle in the class and three more than interesting circuits to follow, where everyone still has a chance to win. The next stage of the J/70 ALCATEL ONETOUCH ITALIAN TROPHY will be held once again in Sanremo on May 16-17 before moving towards Cervia (June 12-14) and Riva del Garda (September 12-19).
J/70 ALCATEL ONETOUCH ITALIAN TROPHY top five leaderboard after first stage:
1. L’elagain, Franco Solerio (ITA), 24 points
2. Notaro Team, Luca Domenici (ITA), 29 points
3. Rocad Racing, Ingemar Sunstedt (SWE), 40 points
4. Ange Tranparent, Guido Miani, (MON), 40 points
5. Uji Uji, Alessio Marinelli (ITA), 45 points
Full results are available by clicking here.