Mascalzone Latino Audi Team unveils its plans

[Source: Mascalzone Latino Audi Team] Two of the best known names in the yachting world have chosen to join forces, creating the Mascalzone Latino Audi Team.

"I am very proud of the fact that Audi, a prestigious car company with such great tradition in sponsoring the sailing world, has chosen to link its name to Mascalzone Latino", commented Vincenzo Onorato. "I would like to thank the President of the Volkswagen Group, Dr. Tartaglione, the Director of Audi Italy, Dr. Frisch and the Director of Audi Marketing, Dr Migliorini for the trust they have put in us. We share the values of excellence and of fair competition as an incentive to constant improvement, as individuals, as a team and from a technology development point of view."

Vincenzo Onorato's team will be racing in several classes and on different race courses, focusing mainly on the Louis Vuitton Trophy, on the one-design Farr 40 and on the Melges 32 class.

The World Sailing Teams Association (WSTA) and Louis Vuitton have announced the next venues of the Louis Vuitton Trophy for 2010 and early 2011. The Louis Vuitton Pacific Series took place in Auckland in February of last year and the Louis Vuitton Trophy was held in Nice in November 2009. The format calls for two weeks of match racing (one on one duel) with America's Cup Class yachts provided by the organization.

Participating teams, top professionals in the sailing world who for the most part have matured experience in previous America's Cup campaigns, rotate on board during individual "flights". A "flight" is jargon for a single race, in which teams display their seamanship skills and tactical intelligence. Emirates Team New Zealand will host the next leg of the Trophy, taking place from the 9th to the 21st of March in Auckland.

Italy will then host the European leg at La Maddalena in Sardinia. Mascalzone Latino Audi Team will be doing the honors from the 22nd of May to the 6th of June. Third on the calendar, the Middle Eastern stop-over in Dubai from the 13th to the 28th of November followed by China in 2011. Racing will take place in Hong Kong from the 9th to the 24th of January.

"La Maddalena will be at the center of media interest right at the beginning of the summer season and attention will be directed to the new infrastructure created for the G8 summit, later transferred to L'Aquila for the well-known reasons", underlined Vincenzo Onorato. He then continued: "This success was possible thanks to the decisions taken by the Government and by Dr Guido Bertolaso, who has asked me to coordinate the event. As the "hosting team", Audi Mascalzone Latino Team wants to offer all competitors the best hospitality. My heart full thanks also goes to those who welcomed us, the Region of Sardinia, that is sponsoring our team in all stages of the Louis Vuitton Trophy, and that here is represented at the highest institutional level by the President of the Region Ugo Cappellacci. Sardinia is a region with an enormous untapped potential, both in terms of nautical tourism and of all it offers as a whole. The interior landscape is extraordinary, but still unknown to most. The Louis Vuitton Trophy is a global event and Sardinia will have the opportunity of being added by travelers to their "Italian Grand Tour".