21 May, 2010

Official draw decides early pairings at Louis Vuitton Trophy

A cannon shot that rang out over the Porto Arsenale in La Maddalena, Sardinia, tonight signaled the opening of the Louis Vuitton Trophy La Maddalena. Competition will start tomorrow with six races planned and the possibility of two more if conditions are favorable.

Skippers of the ten international teams drew for race pairings during a press conference that followed the official opening ceremony.

A match between the Italian teams Mascalzone Latino Audi and Azzurra will be the second start of the day and is expected to attract close attention because Mascalzone is the Challenger of Record for the next America’s Cup. The third race will see BMW Oracle Racing, the current holder of the America’s Cup, competing against Emirates Team New Zealand. Later in the day the Swedish team Artemis will race Emirates Team New Zealand.

Yves Carcelle, Chairman and CEO of Louis Vuitton welcomed everyone to the event and forecast that it would be great for the sailors and great for the public alike. He offered his thanks to officials of the region for making the regatta possible.

Vincenzo Onorato, Chairman of Mascalzone Latino offered his own welcome to all of the competing teams and added: “A special welcome is for Oracle which just won the America’s Cup. This is very important because this is the first time that we all have a chance to challenge James (Spithill) and his wonderful team.”

The pairings are:
Flight One, Match One: Aleph vs TEAMORIGIN
Flight One, Match Two: Mascalzone Latino vs Azzurra.
Flight Two, Match One: BMW Oracle Racing vs Emirates Team New Zealand
Flight Two, Match Two: Luna Rossa vs All4One
Flight Three, Match One: Synergy Russian Sailing Team vs Mascalzone Latino
Flight Three, Match Two: Artemis vs Emirates Team New Zealand

Racing is scheduled to start with a warning signal at 10:00 local time (GMT+2).

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