Day two and almost in the bag for invincible Alfa

The latest from the Copa del Rey Audi Mapfre

The second day of racing at the 28th Copa del Rey Audi Mapfre and already Neville Crichtron's Mini Maxi Alfa Romeois already likely to win the regatta under IRC.

Today the TP52s made their debut, and Realstone Matador, considered one of the favourites, finished the day as leader.

The Swan 45 No Limits was not keen to renounce their first place either, remaining leader after four races, as does the Italian X-35 Karma. In the new X-41 class Sideracordis is tied first with the Estonian yacht Lexus.

Today's light conditions - a sea breeze from due south - favoured the big boats in the IRC group and Alfa Romeo scored another two bullets to remain undefeated in this regatta. She comfortably won both races today, by an even larger margin than she did yesterday.

The Reichel&Pugh 70 footer won the first race after choosing the left side up the first beat, and repeated these tactics, resulting in another victory, in the second race. Neville Crichton's Mini Maxi seems to be working perfectly, despite being recently out of the shipyard where it was rebuilt. The fantastic skills of the crew include British skipper, three times gold and silver Olympic medallist Ben Ainslie, making his debut in the most important regatta in the Mediterranean. Ainslie knows the Bay of Palma well having competed her in numerous Olympic classes regattas.

Today was also important for Cam. In spite of being smaller, Pedro Campos' Cam, formerly the TP52 Artemis, and now converted to IRC, faced the bigger boats and was fifth and second in the first and second races respectively.

In the TP52 class, favourite Realstone Matador confirmed her leader, while Mutua Madrileña and Valars are tied on points.

The Argentineans were over the line at the first start, forced out by Bribón. The Spanish boat, with HM King Juan Carlos at the helm, managed to open a gap of around 200 metres, but Guillermo Parada's on Realstone Matador crew passed them on the last run, moving from fifth into fourth place, in a race won by Vascotto's Mutua Madrileña.

Realstone Matador was once again the fastest boat in the second race, followed by Valars, and Bribón.

The X-41 is probably one of the toughest fleets, and the stiff competition is resulting in constant position changes in the results.

Sideracordis now leads after finishing first and third today. The Italians quite possibly benefited in the second race when three boats were OCS.

In the X-35 class, the biggest one design class at the regatta, it was a remarkable second day for Spanish boat Autoritas, which has moved up to third place overall after finishing second in both races. A consistent performance from the Italians on Karma and Tixelio secured their first and second place in the overall results respectively.

No changes to the Swan 45 standings, where a continuously consistent performance, saw Gideon Messink's No Limits, score a second in both races, that were won today by the Dutch boat Charisma and the British Nemo of Cowes.

More photos on the following pages...