Canarias Puerto Calero wins Trofeo Puerto Calero; Zurich wins first Spanish GP42 championship

The final event of the 2007 GP42 racing season couldn't be any tighter. The local team, Canarias Puerto Calero, finally prevailed over their adversaries even if they had to go through an emotional roller coaster after their disqualification in the penultimate race. Not only that, second place was decided after a three-way tie was broken, just 2 points behind the winner.

As far as the first ever Spanish GP42 championship is concerned, the title goes to Zurich with 86 points, followed by Canarias Puerto Calero with 95 points. These were the only two boats that took part in all 5 events of the 2007 season and as a result, Quebramar-Chrysler was distant third with 155 points. Finally Movistar is fourth with 160 points, despite having raced one event more than Quebramar-Chrysler. Their poor results in the Trofeo de la Reina and the Copa del Rey took toll on their championship standings.

Conditions were markedly lighter on Saturday and Movistar was the biggest beneficiary. Pedro Campos’ boat won a tight race, crossing the finish line 10 seconds ahead of Canarias Puerto Calero and 13 ahead of Zurich. Quum Marketing suffered a setback in their quest for first place in the event when a failure forced them to finish almost 4 minutes behind the first three boats.

Pedro Campos’ team continued their excellent performance in the second race, setting their sights on a podium position. They lead the race without great difficulties and crossed the finish line more than 20 seconds ahead of Canarias Puerto Calero and Quum Marketing. Zurich filed a protest against Canarias Puerto Calero for a port-starboard incident at the windward mark, the jury found the Canarians in breach and disqualified them.

In the third and final race of the day and the event, the locals Canarias Puerto Calero secured their victory in the event, despite crossing the finish line second, behind Quum Marketing. Movistar was third and Zurich fourth.

Final standings of the VI Troféo César Manrique Puerto Calero after 9 races
1. Canarias Puerto Calero, 22 points, (1+2+3+2+2+2+2+6+2)
2. Quum Marketing, 24 points, (2+6+1+4+3+1+4+2+1)
3. Zurich, 24 points, (4+1+4+1+1+3+3+3+4)
4. Movistar, 24 points, (3+3+2+3+4+4+1+1+3)
5. Total Boats, 49 points, (5+4+5+5+6+6+6+6+6)