(Photo - Andrea Francolini)

The opening two events of the 2010 Audi IRC Australian Championship race have proven that you don’t need to be a super maxi to be a serious contender for the national Championship title which is endorsed by Yachting Australia.

While it may have been the South Australian Division 1 grand prix yacht Secret Men’s Business 3.5 that led at the end of Round 1 (raced at Audi Victoria Week in January), two new smaller yachts have been waiting in the wings, and have now taken the lead in this Championship thanks to the pointscore table which is based on a handicap system.

Aspiring to be named the 2010 Audi IRC Australian Champion and to win a new luxury Audi vehicle - the major prize attached to the title - two brand new small yachts named Aroona and Canute are in a tight struggle at the top of the leaderboard following the two rounds at Audi Victoria Week and the weekend’s Audi Sydney Harbour Regatta (6 & 7 March).

The two yachts hail from NSW. Aroona, Harvey Milne’s brand new Archambault 31 and Canute, Peter Horn’s brand new King 40 are sitting in first and second place on 12.63 points and 12.82 points respectively, less than a point separating the two leaders.

The pair made their major regatta debuts at Audi Victoria Week in January where Aroona finished second overall in Division 3. A Division 3 win at the Audi Sydney Harbour Regatta has leap-frogged Milne into first place after the Round 1 leader, Secret Mens Business 3.5, was forced to turn around and return home when the weather proved too harsh to continue on to Sydney to compete.

Canute (NSW) was the clear Division 2 winner in Victoria, but Horn could not replicate that success in Sydney. After acquitting herself well on Day 1 of the Audi Sydney Harbour Regatta, Canute was outsailed in the strong north-easterly conditions on Day 2. She dropped to sixth place overall in Division 2, but her combined results were enough to keep her in second place.

Living Doll, a Farr 55 owned by Melbourne businessman Michael Hiatt is in third place overall after contesting the opening two rounds of the Audi IRC Championship. Hiatt, who competes in the grand prix Division 1 class, has a fourth and third on his scorecard from the two events, but is on 23.29 points, so has some work to do to catch the leader.

Denis Thompson, the Principal Race Officer for the four Audi IRC Australian Championship events, said the revised scoring system was working well to even out the three divisions and make all yachts similarly competitive.

“After two regattas, and looking at the overall pointscore standings, it looks like our slightly revised scoring system is working to ensure that Division 3 yachts can effectively compete against Division 1 and 2 based on a handicapping system,” he said.

“The biggest entry at Audi Victoria Week was Division 1, and so they dominated. At the Audi Sydney Harbour Regatta, Divisions 2 and 3 were larger and they’ve dominated,” he said.

Thompson also reiterated, “If you compete at all four events, you give yourself every chance. That has been proved this weekend, when due to damaging winds up and down the coast, some of the front runners were not able to get to the second event. They have suffered for it, as did those who could not make Round 1.”

Two events remain in the Championship race; the Audi Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race which starts on Saturday July 31 and Audi Hamilton Island Race Week in Queensland from 20 – 28 August, which closes the Championship.

The best three of the four events scores count in each yacht’s tally.

Stephen Ainsworth and his Reichel/Pugh 63 crew onboard Loki from Sydney were unable to attend Audi Victoria Week, but were the outstanding winners of Division 1 at the Audi Sydney Harbour Regatta.

Ainsworth has now vowed: “Absolutely we’ll be on the start line for the remaining two events. I’d love to win a new Audi – and the title.”

For that to happen, Ainsworth and his rock-hard crew will have to sail as flawlessly as they have been doing for the past year, with many line honours and handicap double wins to their credit. Should they be successful, the name Loki and Stephen Ainsworth will also be engraved on the Audi IRC Australian Championship perpetual trophy designed by John Woulfe.

In a first for the Championship series, major sponsor, Audi, has partnered with ONE in 2010 and the highlights from each regatta will be shown nationally following each round of the series.

Highlights from Round 2 of the Audi IRC Australian Championship can be viewed on March 24 at 9.00pm on ONE.  

To follow the Audi IRC Australian Championship 2010 go to www.audi.com.au/sailing