Onorato into the lead

Mascalzone Latino overhauls Argo at the Melges 32 Europeans in Porto Cervo

With six races now completed in the Audi Melges 32 European Championship and a discard coming into play, the leader oard has undergone a slight reshuffle but remains incredibly close.

Vincenzo Onorato's Mascalzone Latino currently sits at the top overall on 21 points. Second place is occupied by Jason Carroll's Argo on equal points with third-placed Fantastica, owned by Lanfranco Cirillo. Yesterday's leader, Bombarda, owned by Andrea Pozzi and with America's Cup helmsman Flavio Favini on tactics, sits in fourth place, just one point behind.

Conditions today were once again light off Porto Cervo with an ESEerly breeze of 8-10 knots for the three races.

In Race Four of the series Carlo Alberini's Calvi Network crossed the finish line first ahead of Argo and Audi Fratelli Giacomel–Fra Martina ,helmed by Edoardo Pavesio after Cirillo lost the second place that she had held for the entire race on the final downwind leg to finish fourth.

American John Kilroy's Samba Pa Ti took victory in the second race of the day ahead of Spain's Bribon Movistar, owned by Marc De Antonio, and Italy's Torpyone owned by Edoardo Lupi with Branko Brcin on tactics. Mascalzone Latino, with Australian 470 gold medallist Nathan Wilmot calling tactics, took center stage in the final race of the day – Race Six -and led throughout trailed by Japan's Naofumi Kamei on Mamma Aiuto! France's Teasing Machine, owned by Jean Francois Cruette and with Francois Brenac on tactics, started well and climbed steadily to finish third.

Alberini, owner of Calvi Network and President of the Melges 32 Class had a mixed day with a 1-20-8 score line today: "The day started off great, then we got a bit lost with a misunderstanding in the second race," he said. "I made a mistake and we, quite rightly, had to complete a penalty and so any potential for a good result was gone. We redeemed ourselves somewhat in the final race, even if we were over early but we believed in the left side of the course and regained ground there. There are only four more races to run but we will do our best."

Michele Paoletti, tactician aboard Fantastica added: "We're a little bit disappointed because we threw away more than a few points. We raced fairly well but made some minor errors that I’m afraid will count in the end. In any case the classification is still wide open."

Racing in the event is scheduled to continue tomorrow, Saturday 30 June at 11.30 a.m. The forecast is similar to today with approximately 8 knots of Sirocco breeze predicted.

Top 10 results (provisional, after six races and one discard)
1 Vincenzo Onorato/Nathan Wilmot, Mascalzone Latino; 5-4-6-5-[9]-1 = 21
2 Jason Carroll/Cameron Appleton, Argo; 6-8-3-2-[16]-9 = 28
3 Lanfranco Cirillo/Michelle Paoletti, Fantastica; 3-9-5-4-[12]-7 = 28
4 Andrea Pozzi/Flavio Favini, Bombarda; 12-1-2-9-[17]-5 = 29
5 Edoardo Lupi/Branko Brcin, Torpyone; 7-[13]-11-7-3-6 = 34
6 Joe Woods/Nick Rogers, Red; 1-11-7-12-7-[18] = 38
7 Wolfgang Stolz/Jasper Radich, Opus One; 2-3-10-13-11-[17] = 39
8 Edoardo Pavesio/Gabriele Benussi, Audi F.lli Giacomel | FRA MARTINA; 9-5-9-3-14-[16] = 40
9 Marc de Antonio/Gonzalo Araujo, Bribon Movistar; 10-7-16-6-2-[21] = 41
10 Mauro Mocchegiani/Matteo Ivaldi, Rush Diletta; 4-17-1-10-10-[20] = 42