Wild Card Entry Leads in Sweden

Marstrand, Sweden (July 1, 2013) – Simone Ferrarese set about day one of Stena Match Cup Sweden with some giant killing. The Italian is making the most of his wild card to this event, the third of the season on the Alpari World Match Racing Tour, notching up four wins and just one loss from his first day at Marstrand.

The first upset came early, with the 25-year-old Italian beating reigning World Champion Ian Williams and GAC Pindar in the very first flight. Then came victories over Keith Swinton’s Black Swan Racing and Taylor Canfield’s USone. Ferrarese’s good run was finally broken by local crew, Johnie Berntsson’s Stena Sailing Team, but the Italian immediately bounced back with a win against Adam Minoprio and Team Alpari FX.

Minoprio was impressed with the Ferrarese performance. “He’s very eager and determined to prove he should have got a Tour card this year. He’s come out swinging, and he’s sailing smoothly. Coming in on a wild card, it’s definitely a different mentality. Match racing is a lot of psyche. He comes in with a clean slate, hasn’t done the last two Tour events. A Tour card holder may be thinking about the pressure of winning the overall Tour.” Normally a professional match racer will say it’s all about taking one race at a time. “Yes, easy to say,” smiled Minoprio, who won two and lost two today. So what’s the approach for tomorrow? “Take it race by race!”

Ferrarese’s strong showing was impressive, although it’s Williams that tops the leaderboard with five wins from six matches. The only skipper to have kept a clean sheet thus far is Phil Robertson and WAKA Racing, but the young Kiwis have only raced four matches so lie 2nd in the standings. – Read on

Background: Stena Match Cup Sweden is the third stop on the six event World Match Racing Tour (WMRT), the leading professional sailing series that is sanctioned by the International Sailing Federation (ISAF). Prize money is awarded for each event, with event points culminating in the crowning of the “ISAF Match Racing World Champion”.