Defending champions EFG Bank Monaco continued to strengthen their grip at the top of the Sailing Arabia – The Tour standings by finishing top of the points in the Doha in-port race.
Sidney Gavignet’s team finished first, second and third in the three-race series to come out on top overall, and the Frenchman says the win sets his team up nicely for the daunting third leg from Doha to Khasab.
“We’re looking forward to the third leg. It’s the adventure part of the race. Two-and-a-half days and two nights at sea so recovery will be pretty important,” said Gavignet.
“It’s long, tiring, and interesting. You will feel pressure from behind but we need to focus on ourselves not our competitors.
“The fleet is still very compact so anything can happen but after the leg the scenario for the overall race will be written so it is important to do well again.
“For sure this leg it is about experience so I can see Team Zain doing very well and Fahad and Renaissance Services too.”
Al Mouj Muscat, who had won the Abu Dhabi in-port series, finished second in Doha, while Marcel Herrera’s Team Averda were third.
Al Mouj skipper Nico Lunven hopes his team’s performance in the in-port series can help them on leg three.
He said: “It’s good for us. We had a good race and finished second and we continue to fight in this tough race.
“All results are really close and for this leg we know we need to fight as we didn’t do well on the last leg so we are going to fight hard as it is a tough leg.”
