Sep 09 - Results Going In The Right Direction For #55 Team Gibraltar
Gibraltar’s Thundercat will be on public display at the Southampton Boat Show 2014 opening on 12 September, after it successfully competed in the Lymington Long Haul, Round 8 of the British National Championships. In July, Lymington had been the team’s first outing with the new boat so there was great excitement within the team when #55 Gibraltar was unveiled by Thundercat Racing UK.
This was Leslie Figueras and Albert Perez’s first long haul race and it took them from Lymington down to the iconic Needles and round the southern coastline of the Isle of Wight to Sandown and back again - a total distance of 60 miles. The boat performed well as did the crew, and the team came a creditable 7th out of 14 starters and gained their first points in the Championships as #55 Team Gibraltar.
August saw the team attend the Folkestone Harbour Festival and Rounds 9 and 10 of the Championships. This was on a more familiar Circuit course with shorter laps and four Heats and a Final on each day. At this event, Leslie was accompanied by Jason Ellis as his co-pilot. They gelled well and came 5th out of 16 boats in Round 9 on Saturday. The Sunday and Round 10 brought great excitement and expectation to the team as they took first place in their first two heats. Bad weather meant the Final race was cancelled and a back count of the day’s results meant Team Gibraltar ended Round 10 in second place overall which gained them 17 points.
These results have catapulted Leslie into the top 10 of the Drivers’ Championship, with his favourite ‘Surf Disciplines’ still to come in the final two rounds of the Championship in Newquay on the 21st and 22nd September
#55 Team Gibraltar’s main focus is now on the P750 European Championships, to be held in Gibraltar waters at Eastern Beach between the 1st & 5th October later this year. The Team will compete in the Stock Class where they expect to be even more competitive.
There are still opportunities to sponsor the Team or to follow the team's progress on their Facebook page - 55 Team Gibraltar - and on http://www.thundercatracing.com.
