| PALMA DE MALLORCA, SPAIN-(24-3-2005) Spanish sailor Iván Pastor, in the Mistral class and Portuguese sailor Gustavo Lima, in the Laser class, are the main candidates to become the absolute winner of the 36 Trofeo SAR Princesa Sofía – Madrid 2012. The leaders in their respective categories will have a tough fight tomorrow with the inconvenience of sailing in different areas and not knowing how the results are going. At this moment, Pastor starts with some advantage over the Portuguese sailor and if he finally wins, we would see again a Spanish sailor as absolute winner of the Trophy. The last Spanish absolute winner was Europe sailor Pablo Arandia in 1999.
Spanish team Natalia Via-Dufresne/Laia Tutzó keep climbing positions in the 470 W and are now second overall with the option of winning in their class tomorrow. German team Stefanie Rothweiler/Vivien Kussatz lost the lead in favour of Austrian sailors Sylvia Vogl/Carolina Flatscher. Third place is for British sailors Christina Bassadone/Saskia Clark.
Mallorcan team Marc Patiño/Omar Juan are down to 8th place overall in the 470 M due to a black flag disqualification. “We had a reference at the starting line –admitted Patiño- but we made a mistake and we were out by a half boat length”. With 26 points, the leaders are British sailors Nic Asher/Elliot Willis, followed by French teams Pallu De La Barriere/Chappellier Aymeric and Dreano/Floch Ronan.
Australian sailors Darren Bundock/Aaron Worrall confirm the lead in the Tornado. Bundock, silver medallist at the Sydney Olympics and three times World Champion is on the way of winning the Trophy, which he already won in 2003. With only 16 points the Australians have a comfortable advantage over German sailors Roland Gaebler/Gunnar Struckmann and Spanish team Fernando Echavarri/Antón Paz, second and third respectively.
The biggest surprises are still seen in the Europe fleet. After nine races, Swedish sailor Sebastian Östling has managed to gain an important distance over Spanish rival Jesús Rogel, for whom it will be difficult tomorrow to beat Östling . Third place overall is for Portuguese sailor Hugo Verissimo.
Polish sailors Marcin Czaykowski/Krzysztof Kierkowsky resisted the attacks of their rivals and maintain the lead in the 49er. Danish team Peter Hansen/Soren Hansen are now second overall and Spanish sailors Alberto Padrón/Javier de la Plaza are in third place together with Ukranian team Rodion Luka/Georgiy Leonchuk with equal points.
Unless there is a dramatic change, Spanish sailor Iván Pastor will be the winner in the Mistral class with 25 points difference over the second classified. The Olympic sailor from Club Náutico de Santa Pola showed his strength in the class winning today’s three races. Second place is also for Spanish sailor Francisco Manchón followed by Ukranian Maxim Oberemko in third place.
No changes in the Finn. Emilios Papathanassiou(GRE) is about to be the winner of the class, followed closely by Gaspar Vincec (SLO) and Jonas Hoegh-Christiensen (DEN), second and third respectively. Rafael Trujillo did not have much luck again today and is down to sixth overall.
The clear leader today in the Laser was Gustavo Lima (POR) winning today’s three races and taking the lead in the class with Paul Goodison (GBR) going down to second place. The Portuguese competitor will sail tomorrow with advantage but he will have to decide if he sails in a safe way to assure the victory in the class or takes some risk to become the absolute winner of the 36 Trofeo SAR Princesa Sofía – Madrid 2012. Third place is for Mark Howard (GBR).
A first and second place for US sailor Paige Railey in the Laser Radial today. Despite being disqualified in the third race for OCS, she can still maintain the lead. Second place is for Charlotte Dobson (GBR) and third place for Wiebke Schröder (GER).
Danish team Lars Hendriksen/Peter Johansen/Martin Leifeldt on board “BB-King” managed to beat Russian boat “My Best” with crew members Vadim Slatsenko/Andry Litsynskyy/Petr Zaharov and are now the leaders in the Dragon. “My Best” is down to second place followed in third place by Danish team Jørgen Schönherr/Lars Jensen/Finn Nicolajsen.
Change of leader in the Yngling class. Russian team Ekaterina Skoudina/Diana Krutskikh/Tatiana Larsteva could not resist the tension of the racing and are down to third place overall. Leaders are now Dutch sailors Janneke Hin/Petronella De Jong/Klaatje Zuiderbaan. Second place overall is for Spanish team Monica Azón/Graciela Pisonero/Sandra Azón.
Tomorrow is the last day of racing of the 36 Trofeo SAR Princesa Sofía – Madrid 2012. The prize giving ceremony will be held tomorrow at 20:00 hrs at Pueblo Español.
| 
