Desafio leads the charge

As Quebramar GP42 Cup heads for its next event in Cascais this week

The fifth and penultimate event of the international Quebramar GP42 Cup will take place in the spectacular settings of Cascais, Portugal. Starting Thursday, 28 August and running for three days, the eight GP42 boats participating in the Trofeu Quebramar Chrysler will provide tight and close races.

If Cascais lives up to its fame of strong and constant winds, racing will not only be exciting but also thrilling as any of the participating boats could very well end up with the trophy.

A mere 11 points separate the three leaders of the overall score table after 4 events. Desafío, helmed by Laureano Wizner, managed to increase its advantage by 1 point to 7, after an extremely tough week and 11 races in the Copa del Rey last month.

Second-placed Near Miss, the Swiss boat owned by Frank Nöel and helmed by Bertrand Pacé, had an excellent start in Palma with four straight bullets but was unable to maintain the pace till the end. The Italian yacht Airis, owned by Roberto Monti and helmed by Sandro Montefusco, is a further 4 points behind the Swiss and consolidated its third place.

Italian Roma GP42.2, helmed by Italian match race star Paolo Ciàn, might be a further 22 points down but her steady upward path, particularly in Valencia and Palma, makes her a certain candidate to win the event. Further down, Canarias Puerto Calero, Madrid and Caser-Quum , will definitely prove to be tough opponents and will stage a tough fight to climb positions.

Although not a newcomer to the GP42 class, another boat will make in Cascais her debut in this year’s Quebramar Cup. It is Bodegas Luís Alegre, a 2007-generation boat, owned by Alberto Fernández and Oscar Ibáñez that raced last year under the name Totalboats.

Racing will start on Thursday, 28 August but similar to the Copa del Rey, on Wednesday the eight boats will carry out their practice race with a corporate or media guest aboard. The starting gun will be fired at 1pm each day and a total of nine races are scheduled, three per day. As a result, no races will be discarded and each and every one will count towards the overall score table.

The 8th Cascais Troféu Quebramar-Chrysler is organised by the Clube Naval de Cascais and is sponsored by the Portuguese clothing company Quebramar as well as Chrysler Jeep Dodge Portugal.

The grand finale of the Quebramar GP42 Cup 2008 will take place in Puerto Calero, Lanzarote, where the GP42 fleet will race in the Trofeo César Manrique from 16-18 October. With all this season’s events being so close and tight, one should expect that the championship will not be decided till the last event is over.

Championship points

	Team	Event						Points
		Trofeo Pirelli	Giraglia	Trofeo Reina	Copa del Rey	Quebramar-Chrysler	Puerto Calero
1.	Desafío	6	28	28	22			84
2.	Near Miss	19	35	14	23			91
3.	AIRIS	19	28	23	25			95
4.	Roma GP 42.2	21	49	22	25			117
5.	Canarias Puerto Calero	18	29	43	43			133
6.	MADRID	20	36	40	42			138
7.	Caser-Quum	36	81	30	37			184
8.	Seawonder 007	28	54	63	72			217
9.	Roma GP 42.1	31	67	63	72			233
10.	FERMAX	36	81	52	72			241
11.	Bodegas Luís Alegre	36	81	63	72			252