Today, the round robin series on the second day of the Marseille International Match Race was completed with SE wind up to 25/30 knots. But due to heavy wind which sometimes reached 40 knots, the committee decided to postpone the other races.

Leading the skippers coming out , France’s Luc Pillot, Former Le Défi Areva skipper, scored three wins to finish 8-1 overall atop the standings. Bertrand Pacé of the Team France, also notched three wins to wind up as the second qualifier

Poland’s Karol Jablonski won all but one of his matches in Round Robin One today to get himself back into the thick of things.

Also advancing were New Zealand's Kelvin Harrap and two other French match racers, Mathieu Richard and Dimitri Deruelle.

The four eliminated are Ian Williams (GBR), Björn Hansen (SWE), Lars Norjdberg (DEN) and Mattias Rahm (SWE).

Final RR 1 Leaderboard (Skipper/Wins/Losses)

1 Luc Pillot (FRA), 8/1
2 Bertrand Pacé (FRA), 8/1 (7,5 pts)
3 Karol Jablonski (POL), 6/3
4 Kelvin Harrap (NZL), 1/2
5 Mathieu Richard (FRA), 5/4
6 Dimitri Deruelle (FRA), 4/6
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7 Ian Williams (GBR), 4/5
8 Björn Hansen (SWE), 3/6
9 Lars Norjdberg (DEN), 1/8
10 Mattias Rahm (SWE), 1/8

Perfect weather conditions though rather cold, winds which were blowing from north west force 10 to 26 knots, lovely sunshine and world class sailing sum up the first part of the day.

Bertrand Pacé of the Team France America's Challenge head the leaderboard at the end of the first day. The French posted records of six wins and one loss in round robin action.

Sharing second place are two other French match racers, Luc Pillot and Matthieu Richard, both with five wins and one defeat.

Round Robin Standings (Skipper/Wins/Losses)

1 Bertrand Pacé (FRA), 6/1
2 Luc Pillot (FRA), 5/1
2 Mathieu Richard (FRA), 5/1
4 Dimitri Deruelle (FRA), 4/3
5 Björn Hansen (SWE), 3/3
6 Karol Jablonski (POL), 2/1
7 Ian Williams (GBR), 2/5
8 Kelvin Harrap (NZL), 1/2
8 Lars Norjdberg (DEN), 1/5
8 Mattias Rahm (SWE), 1/5

Like last year, with the cancellation of the Steinlager Line 7 Cup, the Marseille International Match Race is the first ISAF Grade 1 event of the year.

The event, which came into the limelight of international sailing only a year ago, has immediately gained a reputation in the international match racing circuit and has again attracted an outstanding field of international skippers.

Great media interest will be focused on Bertrand Pacé, who has replaced Kiwi Hamish Pepper as tactician aboard NZL82 during the last America’s Cup and who hasn't sailed for a long time in a match race event.

The starter´s list is also topped by France's Mathieu Richard and Luc Pillot, currently ranked 4 and 24 in the world match race rankings of the International Sailing Federation (ISAF).

Other prominent matchracers such as the reigning champion Karol Jablonski from Poland (1st on ISAF rankings), Sweden's Björn Hansen and Mattias Rahm, British Match Racer Ian Williams or Lars Nordjberg from Denmark will make this event very difficult to win for any of the competitors.

Rounding out the field of competitors are Alinghi's Allan Coutts and native son Dimitri Deruelle.

After a practice day, the action sailed in Beneteau J80 starts on Thursday, the series featuring two Round robin, semi-finals followed by final on sunday.

Competitors (Skipper/ISAF Rankings)

Karol Jablonski (POL), n° 1
Mathieu Richard (FRA), n° 4
Björn Hansen (SWE), n° 8
Ian Williams (GBR), n° 10
Mattias Rahm (SWE), n° 13
Lars Norjdberg (DEN), n° 14
Luc Pillot (FRA), n° 24
Dimitri Deruelle (FRA), n° 213
Bertrand Pacé (FRA), n° 239
Allan Coutts (NZL), n° 912