Karine moves ahead

After second day of racing at the ORMA Grand Prix in Corsica

Following the cancellation of racing on Friday due to excess wind, today saw three races held at the ORMA Grand Prix in Corsica with Karine Fauconnier's Sergio Tacchini taking over the lead in the overall results, despite Franck Cammas's new Groupama having won three out of the four races.

Conditions on the Bay of Calvi were still brisk with 18-22 knots from the northwest, but in glorious sunshine as the boats racing in the shadow of Calvi's historic citadel.

As the gun went it was once again Franck Cammas and his well honed team on Groupama who got off to the best start, sailing under full main and staysail. Staying offshore proved to be the winning tactic on the first beat, avoiding the turbulence from the coast and it was once again Cammas was able to round the top mark first having changed to his Solent jib as the wind decreases. Due to good tactics the second around was Philippe Monnet's Sopra Group just 23 seconds behind. Subsequently the race favourites came to the fore and the fight for astern of Groupama culminated in Karine Fauconnier's Sergio Tacchini taking second and Michel Desjoyeaux on Geant third.

For the second race, the wind had dropped to 12 knots with an awkward still left over swell from the strong conditions of the previous days and a shifting breeze, making tactical choices hard.

With two race wins under her belt at this regatta, Groupama returned to port to make rapid repairs to one of the hydraulic rams controlling her shrouds. A collision between Thomas Coville's Sodebo and Italian Giovanni Soldini's TIM-Projetto Italia in the first race caused them to retire from the final two races. More than a metre of the back of the TIM's starboard float was ripped off while the bow of Sodebo's port float was demolished forward of the crash box. The Italian will not be able to race on Sunday, and possibly not even at the next Grand Prix in Marseilles, whereas the damage to Sodebo is more superficial.

On the water the big surprise came when Yvan Ravussin, who had taken over the helm of Banque Covefi from brother of Steve - called away to take part in the VIP Decision 35 regatta in his native Switzerland - and charged into the lead after the start to win race two ahead of Fred le Peutrec's Gitana II and Sergio Tacchini.

Race three again was held in unstable winds of 12-15 knots making life hard for the tacticians. For this race Franck Cammas and Groupama had returned and once again showed the fleet around the course. However despite wins in three out of four races, an 11 point score in the second race today has put Groupama into second position now behind Sergio Tacchini leaving all to play for in tomorrow's racing.

Results:
1-Sergio Tacchini - Karine Fauconnier (3+2+3+2) 10 points
2-Groupama-2 - Franck Cammas (1+1+11+1) 14 points
3-Gitana 11 - Fred Le Peutrec (5+4+2+3) 14 points
4-Géant - Michel Desjoyeaux (7+3+4+5) 19 points
5-Foncia - Alain Gautier (4+5+7+4) 20 points
6-Banque Covefi - Yvan Ravussin (8+7+1+7) 23 points
7-Sopra Group - Philippe Monnet (10+6+5+6) 27 points
8-Banque Populaire - Pascal Bidégorry (9+8+6+8) 31 points
9-Sodebo - Thomas Coville (2+10+11+11) 34 points
10-TIM-Projetto Italia - Giovanni Soldini (6+9+11+11) 37 points