Bella Mente and its team of 30 sailors and shore crew are expected to arrive in Porto Cervo, Sardinia early next week to prepare for the Mini Maxi Rolex World Championship, which kicks off September 1 and continues through to September 6. With owner/driver Hap Fauth at the helm, Bella Mente Racing will embark on four days of practice next week to prepare.
Bella Mente at the 2013 Mini Maxi Rolex World Championship (Photo Credit Rolex/Carlo Borlenghi)
“This year’s Mini Maxi Rolex World Championships will probably be the tightest racing the class has ever seen,” said Mike Sanderson who will join Fauth along with Terry Hutchinson and John Cutler in the afterguard onboard.
Sanderson added that the regatta is the team’s pinnacle event annually because of its strong turnout of other extremely competitive mini maxis. In 2012, Bella Mente Racing was crowned Mini Maxi Rolex World Champion, and it hopes to steal back the title from Niklas Zennstrom’s Ran 2, which won last year and will be returning again next month with a new boat (Ran 5). Zennstrom’s former boat will also be competing as Robertissima III with Roberto Tomasini Grinover at the helm.
Bella Mente at the 2013 Mini Maxi Rolex World Championship (Photo Credit Rolex/Carlo Borlenghi)
Bella Mente Racing will once again be faced with George Sakellaris’ Shockwave, which it narrowly lost to at the 33rd Copa del Rey MAPFRE earlier this month in Palma Mallorca (Shockwave and Bella Mente took first and second place, respectively, in IRC 0).
“We were very happy with how the boat was going at Copa del Rey and feel that we can win races,” added Sanderson. “The team has worked hard to make the boat as ‘rating efficient’ as possible without, hopefully, costing us any raw speed. Overall, the boat is feeling better than it has ever felt and the team is more settled and prepared than ever. We are ready to put our heads down and fight.”
Check out photos below of Bella Mente being prepared for Sardinia (Photo Credit: Peter Henderson)
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