Quantum Racing secure second title

Just one final race held today at the TP52 World Championship

Quantum Racing did what they had to do win their second TP52 World title in three years, containing the 2009 world champions - the spirited, never-say-die Matador crew - through today’s one showdown, final race of the TP52 World Championship off Valencia.

Following the long delay afloat, waiting for enough of a settled breeze to allow competition to take place, only one race was possible, starting at 1517.

With a points cushion which meant that only one of these two could win the title, and Quantum Racing holding a three points cushion, the last race proved to be a tough head-to-head, match race as fully befits the America’s Cup waters.

While their title duel certainly warranted top billing, so too there were a set of supporting matches in the flukey 5-7 knots breeze - private battles and tussles to settle final results throughout the nine boat fleet.

The other key match was for third. Russia’s Synergy were seeking revenge over Artemis with whom they tied for third on points in Palma last year. This time it was Synergy which prevailed, countback for third on the podium favouring their two race wins.

Matador were forced on to the back foot off the line when they jumped the gun and were forced to restart. Though they did so swiftly and efficiently, Quantum Racing were immediately in a position to work them left, all the way the port tack lay line.

Meanwhile Bigamist went on to finish their season in style, winning the last TP52 race of the season, the title fighters rounded the first turn with Quantum Racing in eighth and Matador ninth, engaged in their own private match race.

While Quantum Racing did good work herding Matador back into the darker depths of the fleet, the biggest threat arose when the duels ahead of them slowed, offering Matador half a chance of escaping back into the fleet. But they crossed the finish with Alberto Roemmers’ team eighth and Doug DeVos’ Quantum Racing in ninth, enough to the give the title to the American flagged team by two points.

For Quantum Racing it completes an unmatched record of two world titles in three years, and a second, only losing out last year on countback to Matador, and adds the perfect final flourish in their final race with the Botin Carkeek-designed boat in which they won the Audi MedCup title in 2008 and finished runners-up in 2009 and this season.

Terry Hutchinson commented: "It is an overwhelming sense of relief. We had a big task ahead of us today and this was one of those regattas which kept on going well and then we would retract a little bit, Matador had such a great coastal race, and that was always going to be a big race. And so we did really good work getting back to fifth in that race. But today is tricky and dicey and that is a fast boat that we are racing against. Our boat is a fast boat but there are certain moments when they just go fast like. And so it was amazing how quickly they got back into it after their OCS. What a great culmination to the end of the season. There is so much effort and work goes into these projects, and so to put a world championship under our belt is really, really special. It is awesome for us to have won two of the last three world championships and to have tied with Matador for the last one on countback.”

Guillermo Parada, skipper of Matador said: “We won the position we wanted on Quantum in the last tack before the start gun, but we were over the line by three meters. These things happen. After that we were always pushing, pushing to the end, and by the finish we were able to pass them. We are very proud because we wanted to get to the final day with a chance to win. This is our last race with this boat because in the final half of the season, since Copa del Rey we have won twice and had two second places, so we finish up with this boat with a good record.”

Finishing in fourth place, just ahead of their arch-rivals was enough for the Russian team to take third, but illustrating just how close it was also in the body of the fleet, only one point separated Synergy from sixth placed Cristabella, with Torbjorn Tornqvist’s Artemis (SWE) fourth, and Audi A1 powered by All4ONE (FRA/GER) fifth.

Eugeniy Neugodnikov, helmsman on Synergy said: "It was really tough today. We did a really good job from start to finish. Of course we needed to be in front, but it was enough to take third place. On the finish line it was hard because if Artemis were one place higher they would have beaten us to the podium. So we are happy. This result is very good for Synergy, a boat which was often seems to be in fourth place, but never on the podium. And if you remember last year they finished fourth, right behind Artemis and on the same points so that's changed today. We all hope to be here next year, this has been a great school for me, and I want to thank our sponsors, team and fans."

TP52 World Championship 2010 - Final Results

1. Quantum Racing (USA) - Terry Hutchinson (USA), 1+3+3+1+4+7,5+2+19= 31,5 points
2. Matador (ARG) - Alberto Roemmers (ARG), 4+2+5+3+5+1,5+3+2+8= 33,5

3. Synergy (RUS) - Eugeni Neugodnikov (RUS), 5+1+1+2+7+6+10(DSQ)+4+5= 41
4. Artemis (SWE) - Torbjorn Tornqvist (SWE), 3+5+2+4+1+9+7+6+4= 41
5. Audi A1 powered by ALL4ONE (FRA/GER) - Jochen Schuemann (GER), 2+10(DSQ)+8+6+2+4,5+4+3+2= 41,5

6. Cristabella (GBR) - John Cutler (NZL), 6+4+4+7+9+3+1+5+3= 42
7. Bigamist 7 (POR) - Afonso Domingos (POR), 7+6+6+5+3+10,5+5+8+1= 51,5
8. Pace (GBR) - Johnny Vincent (GBR), 9+8+7+10(DSQ)+6+12+6+7+7= 72
9. Weapon of Choice (GBR) - Tom Wilson (GBR), 8+7+9+8+8+13,5+8+9+6= 76,5