MIAMI, April 29 (Reuters) – Overall leaders Telefonica were
threatening to take a stranglehold on the Volvo Ocean Race after
moving menacingly into second place on the sixth leg from Brazil
to the United States on Sunday.
Skipper Iker Martinez, an Olympic gold medallist in Athens
2004 and gunning for another in the London Games less than a
month after the Volvo race ends in July, leads the fleet in the
overall standings by 16 points.
Another victory in this leg would stretch his lead by at
least five points with only three legs remaining as the race
returns to Europe. Each leg counts 30 points to the winner with
second claiming 25 and third 20.
First, however, Telefonica need to pass American-led Puma,
who led by just over 13 nautical miles (24km), as the fleet
rounded the southern tip of Brazil heading for the Caribbean and
then Miami, a journey of some 4,500 nautical miles in total.
Overnight, the Spanish crew edged past another contender for
overall race victory, Camper (Spain/New Zealand) who lie a
further 1.5 nautical miles adrift and still very much in the
running for the leg honours.
The 39,000-nautical mile, nine-month marathon race is
scheduled to finish in Galway, Ireland on July 7.
Overall standings: 1 Telefonica (Spain) 149 points, 2
Groupama (France) 133, 3 Camper (NZ/Spain) 124, 4 Puma (U.S.)
117, 5 Abu Dhabi (UAE) 58, 6 Team Sanya (China) 25
(Editing by John O’Brien)
