Audi MedCup 2011: Audi Azzurra

Audi MedCup 2011: Audi Azzurra

Audi MedCup 2011: Audi Azzurra

Audi MedCup 2011: Audi Azzurra

In 20 knots of sea breeze, the Italians hit their straps in an exhilarating and tight contest to post two second places in two races, with Spanish boat Bribon beating them by less than a minute in the first race and Quantum from America running out winners by 47 seconds in the second.

"Although the fleet is smaller than last year, no one can afford to make any mistakes but we just chipped away and are really chuffed," said British trimmer Simon Fry who has been with the team since 2009.

Failure of all the electronic systems on Ran 4 made life tricky for Niklas Zennstrom's crew whose second day on the circuit proved to be frustrating with a sixth and fifth to finish sixth overall, with two days racing remaining.

"We went to put the sails up and found we had no instruments working which didn't help though we are still finding our feet," said team manager Tim Powell.

"Our crew work is good and upwind we are competitive but we need to work on our starts and downwind performances."