Bertrand Pacé led a BMW Oracle Racing team to a 3-2 win today at the Spanish Open over Luna Rossa’s Philippe Presti.

The hard-fought battle capped four days of match racing 6-10 September at the Open de Espana de Match Race hosted by the Real Club Nautico Calpe, in the Spanish coastal town of Calpe about two hours drive south of Valencia.

Pacé, along with Zach Hurst, Rod Dawson and Brad Webb, first defeated Jesper Radich of the Spanish America's Cup Challenger Desafio Espanol in the semi finals 2-0 today before taking it to the wire in a fifth and final race with Presti to win the Grade 2 match racing event.

In shifty, 20-knot winds, Pacé and crew won the first race in the first-to-three finals, but then Presti took two off the Challenger of Record. The first few days of racing, sailed in Tom 28s, saw fairly light breeze and today it shifted gears.

During the third match, the race was decided at the bottom mark. A hundred meters before the mark, Pacé's spinnaker was torn, a very frequent problem in sailing races. Nevertheless, Brad Webb in his effort to grab the spinnaker while rounding the mark fell of the boat. He didn't suffer any injury and was safely recovered by one of the chase boats but that Pacé was forced to abandon.

Despite this major psychological setback, Pacé and his crew pulled it out together at the last two matches and won the final.

Résultats des finales

Flight 1 : Bertrand Pacé bat Philippe Presti - Cameron Dunn bat Jesper Radich

Flight 2 : Philippe Presti bat Bertrand Pacé - - Cameron Dunn bat Jesper Radich (Dunn est 3ème)

Flight 3 : Philippe Presti bat Bertrand Pacé

Flight 4 : Bertrand Pacé bat Philippe Presti

Flight 5 : Bertrand Pacé bat Philippe Presti

Résultats des semi-finales

Flight 1 : Bertrand Pacé bat Jesper Radich - Philippe Presti bat Cameron Dunn

Flight 2 : Bertrand Pacé bat Jesper Radich (Pacé qualifié) - Cameron Dunn bat Philippe Presti

Flight 3 : Philippe Presti bat Cameron Dunn (Presti qualifié)