Torvar Mirsky tops round robin

As the quarter finallists are decided at Match Race France

Over the last three days of Match Race France, stage 1 of the World Match Racing Tour, 18 flights have been held, launching eight skippers into the Quarter Finals from the original 12.

Winner of the 2009 World Match Racing Tour, New Zealander Adam Minoprio, along with his Australian nemisis Torvar Mirsky and Ben Ainslie with his TeamOrigin crew, are all through but it is Mirsky who leads the field despite being the Tour’s youngest helm at just 23 years old.

“We feel we’ve prepared properly for the start of this year’s World Match Racing Tour and that’s paid off," said Mirsky. "We always knew we would be one of the tougher teams to beat, we are pleased with our consistent performance to date and the team is now looking forward to the rest of Match Race France”.

The sailing Gods distilled a different set of fortunes on match race veteran Yanmar Racing's Peter Gilmour who along with Pierre-Antoine Morvan, Bertrand Pace and opening day star Gian Luca Parris, has been knocked out at this early stage.

Gilmour who has been racing this week with his 18 year old son, David, said: “We are obviously a little disappointed but we are taking the positives with us, it has been a good start to the 2010 World Match Racing Tour and we will be back in full force at Match Race Germany during May”.

The Quarter Finals will be held off Marseille's Escale Borely Beach, the new race course is in more spectator-friendly ‘weekend mode’.

Quarter Finalists
Torvar Mirsky (AUS) Mirsky Racing Team
Ben Ainslie (GBR) TEAMORIGIN
Adam Minoprio (NZL) BlackMatch Racing
Philippe Presti (FRA)
Paolo Cian (ITA) Team Italia
Mathieu Richard (FRA) French Match Racing Team
Francesco Bruni (ITA) Azzurra
Sébastien Col (FRA) ALL4ONE

Overall Round Robin Standings

1 Torvar Mirsky (AUS) Mirsky Racing Team 9-2
2 Ben Ainslie (GBR) TEAMORIGIN 8-3
3 Adam Minoprio (NZL) BlackMatch Racing 7-4
4 Philippe Presti (FRA) 7-4
5 Paolo Cian (ITA) Team Italia 7-4
6 Mathieu Richard (FRA) French Match Racing Team 5-6
7 Francesco Bruni (ITA) Azzurra 5-6
8 Sébastien Col (FRA) ALL4ONE 5-6
9 Pierre-Antoine Morvan (FRA) 4-7
10 Bertrand Pacé (FRA) Aleph Sailing Team 4-7
11 Peter Gilmour (AUS) YANMAR Racing 3-8
12 Gian Luca Perris (MON) 2-9