Two wins for Pahun

Region Ile de France team come good in Golfe du St Tropez in closing stages of Tour Voile

Today, the Mumm 30s had two races around the Gulf of Saint-Tropez. On this wonderful but also tactical playing ground, Region Ile de France managed to do very well with Jimmy Pahun and his team winning both Olympic courses. With these two victories, they have now moved up to fourth overall. Two days before the end of the 28th Tour de France à la Voile, teams are still fighting hard for points and all is far from decided. For example tonight, Defi Partage Marseille is only two points away from Bouygues Telecom in second.

When the boats left Sainte-Maxime today to sail two races the wind was bearly 5 knots. This light and unsteady breeze made for very tactical racing and forced the Race Committee to reset the course many times. It was in these conditions that Region Ile de France managed to beat Defi Partage Marseille and Belvedere-EDC-EBSCO into first place. “We are so happy," said skipper Jimmy Pahun. "We wanted to do as well as our young ‘brother’ team Espoir Ile de France, which won two Olympic courses in Royan. I think we are the only two boats in this event to have won two races in a row on the same day”.

Motivated by their first victory, the crew of Region Ile de France won the second race too. Ville du Port Bred la Reunion crossed the finish line second with Defi Partage Marseille third. "We’ve just had a very nice day," said skipper Dimitri Deruelle. "We got two good results in difficult wind conditions. The Gulf of Saint Tropez is very complicated with a lot of coastal effects”.

Overall Toulon Provence Mediterranee Coychyères is still leading, followed by Bouygues Telecom, with Defi Partage Marseille third: “We didn’t really expect to be so close to them two days before the end," continued Pahun. "Now we can hope to finish second on the podium. We have nothing to lose. We will give our maximum until Menton”.

The crew of Bouygues Telecom are feeling the heat but are remaining calm: “ Defi Partage Marseille is doing very well in the Mediterranean," admits crewman Matthieu Richard. "It looks like it is going to go to the wire. That’s motivating! We are ready to fight until the last minute to save our second place on the podium”.

Below them the results are moving again, with Region Ile de France eighth a few days ago, now rocketing up to fourth after today's performance.

In the Amateur class, their team mates in Espoir Ile de France have increased the gap in front of Ville du Port Bred la Reunion and CSC ESSEC.

In the Student Class Port de Commerce La Rochelle continues to hold first place over the Southampton Institute students on board Alfa Laval.

Tomorrow at 8.00, the Mumm 30 will start the last offshore leg, between Sainte-Maxime and Menton. This 48 mile leg should be quite slow and tactical again as Meteo France is announcing some very light wind in the area.

Results

Pos	Boat	Skipper	Tot
1	TOULON PROVENCE MEDITERRANEE COYCHyères	Fabien HENRY	1188
2	BOUYGUES TELECOM	Pierre Loïc BERTHET	1113
3	DEFI PARTAGE – MARSEILLE	Thierry BOUCHARD / Dimitri DERUELLE	1111
4	REGION ILE DE FRANCE	Jimmy PAHUN / Nicolas PAUCHET	1055
5	ALPES-MARITIMES MANDELIEU THEOULE	Sylvain CHTOUNDER	1041
6	DIEPPE SEINE-MARITIME	Romain GIBON	1021
7	COURRIER DUNKERQUE	Gery TRENTESAUX	1016
8	VILLE DE GENEVE CARREFOUR PREVENTION	Julien DI BIASE/Denis GIRARDET/Bastien CLEMENT	1014
9	ESPOIR ILE DE FRANCE	Jean-Pierre NICOL / Victor LANIER	971.5
10	CSC – ESSEC	Hervé GAUTIER	939.5
11	VILLE DU PORT BRED LA REUNION	Marc GUESSARD / Gabriel JEAN-ALBERT	917
12	BELVEDERE – EDC – EBSCO	Tanguy FOURNIER LE RAY	907
13	PORT DE COMMERCE LA ROCHELLE	Alexandre MERCIER	875
14	NANTES SAINT-NAZAIRE	Sebastien PETITHUGUENIN / Gaëtan AULNETTE	870.5
15	ALFA LAVAL	Yoann RICHOMME	869.5
16	PERPIGNAN MEDITERRANEE	Paul McKENZIE	854
17	BIENNE – VOILE	R. HARTMANN / N. BERGER / C. KNOLL	839.5
18	DEFI SCLEROSE EN PLAQUES	Stéphane VENEL	744
19	COTES D’ARMOR	Michaël AVELINE	728
20	ESPOIRS AQUITAINS	J.P.ALLILIAIRE/X.CANTEGREL/J.FALXA	723.5
21	VAN UDEN TUDELFT	Gert VAN DER HEIJDEN	716
22	BREST GRANDES ECOLES ENSIETA ENST-BRETAGNE	Gildas MAHE	704
23	DEFI GRANDES ECOLES TOTAL INSA	Anne Claire LE BERRE	692
24	EMINENCE – MARSEILLE	Kiny PARADE	680
25	DEFI AMI – AVAYA - X - ENSAM	Olivier HONTANX	658
26	STAD GENT / VILLE DE GAND	Philippe BERGMANS / Bernard WILMET	642.5
27	AMEC SPIE	Eric BASSET	618
28	EIGSI – CHARENTE MARITIME	Antoine ALBARET	577.5
29	T SERVICE INTERIM REGION DE BRUXELLES-CAPITALE	Laurent DECLERCQ / Jean-Marc FOBERT	556
30	HEC GAMELIN MECENAT CHIRURGIE CARDIAQUE	Ryan PARKIN	529