2018 Melges 40 Grand Prix Season Closes with Stig, Sikon and Inga on the Podium

LANZAROTE, CANARY ISLANDS/SPAIN, 11 November 2018 - The Lanzarote edition of the Melges 40 Grand Prix season has officially come to a close, as the tenth race has been run and the results are finalized for the 2018 ranking.

Despite winning the Lanzarote Grand Prix yesterday and successfully, automatically defending his Grand Prix Championship title for a second time, Alessandro Rombelli's STIG (Francesco Bruni, tactician) won the final heat today soaking up a sweet victory in the Melges 40 Class.

"We are really delighted to have achieved our goal of the season, and that was to defend our Grand Prix title for a second consecutive time," said Rombelli. "We did this thanks to a very well structured program. In regards to every single detail, our crew did an excellent job giving us the best performance. We didn't start the season very well, so we were always racing uphill and chasing the leader, but in the end we completed our work to the fullest."

As for the remaining podium positions, they have been officially decided. Taking an 'all or nothing' approach, Yukihiro Ishida at the helm of SIKON (Manu Weiller, tactician) gave a stellar performance to confirm his second place position on the ranking podium.

That podium is completed with Richard Goransson's INGA (Cameron Appleton, tactician) seated in third, who up until August proved to be the strongest, and indeed unbeatable.

In fourth place overall is Valentin Zavadnikov's DYNAMIQ SYNERGY (Michele Ivaldi, tactician), followed by Andrea Lacorte at the helm of VITAMINA CETILAR (Gabriele Benussi, tactician) in fifth.

The Melges 40 Grand Prix circuit counts on the support of Helly Hansen, Garmin Marine, and local partners Calero Marinas and Lava Charter.

Melges 40 Grand Prix has signed and adopts the code of ethics of the Charta Smeralda strongly promoting the values of One Ocean Foundation.

2018 GRAND PRIX RANKING RESULTS (FINAL - After Four Events)
1.) (ITA) Alessandro Rombelli/Francesco Bruni, STIG; 8 pts.
2.) (JPN) Yukihiro Ishida/Manu Weiller, SIKON; 10 pts.
3.) (SWE) Richard Goransson/Cameron Appleton, INGA; 12 pts.
4.) (MON) Valentin Zavadnikov/Michele Ivaldi, DYNAMIQ SYNERGY; 15 pts.
5.) (ITA) Andrea Lacorte/Gabriele Benussi, VITAMINA CETILAR; 15 pts.

FULL LANZAROTE RESULTS (FINAL - After Ten Races, One Discard)
1.) (ITA) Alessandro Rombelli/Francesco Bruni, STIG; 2-1-2-1-1-[3]-3-3-2-1 = 16
2.) (JPN) Yukihiro Ishida/Manu Weiller, SIKON; [5]-2-4-3-5-2-2-1-1-2 = 22
3.) (ITA) Andrea Lacorte/Gabriele Benussi, VITAMINA CETILAR; 1-3-3-2-3-[5]-4-5-3-4 = 28
4.) (MON) Valentin Zavadnikov/Michele Ivaldi, DYNAMIQ SYNERGY; 4-4-1-5-2-1-5-4-4-[6/DNS] = 30
5.) (SWE) Richard Goransson/Cameron Appleton, INGA; 3-[5]-5-4-4-4-1-2-5-3 = 31
Full Results