Victory for Roland Dane’s TeamVodafone outfit at Sydney Motorsport Park was not the only win achieved by himself over the weekend.
Dane and his eight man sailing crew aboard ‘Jessandra II’ took the outright victory in the Audi Australian IRC Championships at Hamilton Island.
Formerly a championships held over several events, this year, the Australian Championships were amalgamated into a one week carnival, and Dane’s crew were the overall champions.
Dane’s team consisted of a number of experts – both in racing and sailing. Alongside Dane was his technical director Ludo Lucroix and multiple Sydney to Hobart winner Michael Spies.
Spies, a renowned sail master, said that this was a significant sailing victory for Dane’s team.
“It’s quite a major thing for us,” Spies told Speedcafe.com.
“It was Roland’s third go at trying to win at Hamilton Island, and 12 months ago, we didn’t quite have the equipment to win. It was always going to be a 12 month program for us. We optimised our boat and came up with the goods this time.
“We were pretty solid in the results, but it wasn’t just a a walk in the park. It was the best level of racing in the country.”
Speedcafe.com spoke to Dane about his sailing in April. CLICK HERE for the past story. At the time, Dane said that all of his sailing attentions revolved around claiming a win at Hamilton Island.
Four months on, Dane now has that victory in his pocket …
