Sea, Sail & Surf newsMatch Race Germany
Peter Gilmour wins final revenge against Bertrand Pacé
The Australian skipper of the Pizza-La Sailing Team put on a show for the ages
lundi 14 juin 2004 –
Gilmour and the Pizza-La crew, including Mike Mottl (AUS), Kazuhiko Sofuku (JPN), Yasuhiro Yaji (JPN) and local German sailor Carsten Kemmling, defeated Pacé and crewmembers Benoit Briand (FRA), Thierry Fouchier (FRA), Fabrice Levet (FRA) and German Claas de Jong, 3-2, to claim the ninth annual event sailed on Lake Constance in southern Germany.
After losing to Pacé in the Swedish Match Tour final at Croatia two weeks ago, Gilmour came to Germany with a vengeance, and left with a slew of accolades.
Gilmour clinched the Swedish Match Tour Championship for 2003-’04 with his second at Croatia, but this week he padded his lead even more.
He earned 25 points by finishing first and increased his total to 142 points. He leads second place by 72 points. The team’s victory was its third in seven events on the 2003-’04 Tour.
By becoming the first skipper to win 10 straight races at Match Race Germany, he won a Mercedes Benz SLK 200 roadster valued at Euro 40,000 (approximately $48,000). And the Pizza-La crew won Euro 4,800 (approximately $5,700) in prize money.
“We also have a bit of humility,” said Gilmour, 44, from Perth, Western Australia. “It was a fabulous week.”
Pacé was clearly disappointed about losing, but knew it’d be difficult to beat Gilmour a second consecutive time.
“I couldn’t get out of being the port-tack boat in the pre-start,” said Pacé, 42. “He kept pushing us into trouble. Peter and his crew were clearly the better team today.”
In the Petit Final, Gavin Brady’s BMW Oracle Racing crew (Dirk de Ridder, Sean Clarkson, Brad Webb, Andreas John) defeated Jes Gram-Hansen’s Team Denmark (Rasmus Kostner, Christian Kamp, Michael Arnhild, Henning Sohm) 3-1 to capture third, and place Team Denmark fourth.
“We won three starts and he won one, and that was the difference,” said Brady, 30, the helmsman for America’s Cup America's Cup #AmericasCup challenger BMW Oracle Racing.
“Once we got up 2-0, we were able to change our strategy a bit and put more pressure on (Gram-Hansen) to sail a perfect race. We wanted to make it hard for him to execute,” said Brady.
Gram-Hansen expressed more disappointment today than yesterday, when he lost the one race showdown with Gilmour for the Mercedes Benz.
“Gilmour should’ve won that race, we never expected to,” said Gram-Hansen, 32. “I made some slight errors in timing. They were about 2 or 3 seconds, but it’s the difference between good and very good.”
The Swedish Match Cup is the final event on the 2003-’04 Tour. Held in Marstrand, Sweden, it is scheduled July 5-11.
• SWEDISH MATCH TOUR 2003-’04 RANKINGS
(After six of eight events)
1. Peter Gilmour/AUS, Pizza-La Sailing Team - 142 points
2. Gavin Brady/NZL, BMW Oracle Racing - 70 points
3. Magnus Holmberg/SWE, SeaLife Rangers - 64 points
4. Bertrand Pacé/FRA, Team France - 55 points
5. Jesper Radich/DEN, Team Denmark - 43 points
6. Jes Gram-Hansen/DEN, Team Denmark - 38 points
7. Russell Coutts/NZL, Team Alinghi - 35 points
8. Ed Baird/USA, Team Musto - 31 points
• MATCH RACE GERMANY FINAL STANDINGS
(Euro 20,000 prize purse, approximately $24,000)
Place Skipper/Nationality, Team - Won-Lost - Prize Money
1. Peter Gilmour/AUS, Pizza-La Sailing Team - 15-2 - €4,800 ($5,700)
2. Bertrand Pacé/FRA - 10-7 - €2,800 ($3,300)
3. Gavin Brady/NZL, BMW Oracle Racing - 12-4 - €2,400 ($2,800)
4. Jes Gram-Hansen/DEN, Team Denmark - 10-6 - €2,000 ($2,400)
5. Luc Pillot/FRA - 7-6 - €2,000 ($2,400)
6. Mathieu Richard/FRA - 4-9 - €1,600 ($1,900)
7. Eric Monin/SUI - 5-8 - €1,400 ($1,600)
8. Tino Ellegast/GER - 2-11 - €1,200 ($1,400)
9. Karol Jablonski/POL, Toscana Challenge - 1-4 - €1,000 ($1,200)
10. Michael Dunstan/AUS, OzBoyz Challenge - 2-3 - €800 ($960)
11. Lars Nordbjerg/DEN - 1-4
12. Ray Davies/NZL, Team New Zealand - 0-5
Dans la même rubrique
SWEDISH MATCH TOUR : Peter Gilmour clinches Swedish Match Tour two events before the end
Swedish Match Tour : Bertrand Pacé wins ACI HTmobile Cup
Swedish Match Tour • Toscana Elba Cup : Coutts defeated Gilmour to claim the event the fifth event on the Swedish Match Tour
Swedish Match Tour : Ed Baird defeated fellow American Terry Hutchinson to win the Congressional Cup
