Britain's Tony Langley wins in tough Audi MedCup conditions

(IAN ROMAN/AUDI MEDCUP )

Every kind of shake of the dice was thrown at the Audi MedCup fleet on the second day of the Marseille Trophy. There were more traps and windless bunkers than on a championship golf course. But out of it came an astonishing win in the second race for Britain’s Tony Langley on Gladiator as the overall leader, the American boat Quantum was last.

And the first race saw Niklas Zennstrom’s Rán handle the tricky conditions with some confidence to be second to Quantum, skippered by Ed Baird.

So, a first and an eighth for Quantum, an eighth and a third for Jochen Sch?mann’s All4One, a seventh and a second for the Russian Synergy team and a third and a seventh for the Argentinian-backed Italians on Azzurra.

“We were a little more aggressive today and it paid off,” said Rán tactician Gavin Brady, “but the second race was really tricky, probably one of the trickiest races I have seen in the Audi MedCup so far.”

The biggest smiles were on the faces of the Gladiator crew. “We have shown we can do it,” said pitman Jim Turner. “Chris Main did a great job on tactics and put us in the right place at the right time, especially finding a nice vein of breeze to give Tony his first Audi MedCup win.”

Quantum still leads the regatta overall, but by just one point from the Russians, who have a new sistership and are coached by French Olympic gold medallist Thierry Peponnet.

Rán has moved up to fourth, but equal on points to the Spanish boat Bribón and Gladiator, who also had a fifth in the first race of the day, have moved off the bottom to leave Sch?mann with the management problem of how to turn around what has so far been a very disappointing year for the Franco-German All4One team.