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Cammas back on form in Lorient

Bonduelle finished third

LONDON, England -- Franck Cammas in Groupama won the first race of the Grand Prix du Pays de Lorient on Friday, continuing his form from last season.

Cammas was victorious in the two-handed Transat Jacques Vabre last year and has been winner of the Orma 60ft circuit for the last two years.

The fleet of 60-foot racing trimarans faced a tough test on the opening day of the first event of the 2002 Orma 60 season with winds gusting over 30 knots on the Brittany coast.

Two races were planned for the day but the race committee delayed the start until the afternoon when conditions were forecast to moderate.

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In the end only five of the eight trimarans managed to reach the start line. Some of the skippers with brand new 2002 boats decided that at such an early stage in the season it was not worth damaging their sophisticated racing craft.

Philippe Monnet in the new Marc Lombard-designed Sopra Group did not even leave the harbour. Lalou Roucayrol on Banque Populaire broke all the battens on the way out to the start and Alan Gautier on Foncia 2 had problems with his daggerboard.

The only new boat to race was Fred Le Peutrec on Bayer CropScience who

retired when lying in third place with problems with his mainsail halyard.

Not surprisingly the racing was spectacular with the boats approaching the turning marks at speed in excess of 30 knots in a cloud of spray.

The skills of the top crews, dominated by French professionals, are quite

awesome with boats crossing each other at 60 knots.

Loick Peyron in Fujicolor led for most of the race but made an error when tacking for the final mark allowing Groupama to slip through to win.

Peyron, whose elder brother Bruno is in the final stages of a Jules Verne round the world record run on the 34m (100ft) maxi-catamaran Orange, is a past master of the Orma circuit, winning the overall Championship in 1995, 1996, 1997 and 1999.

Twenty seconds behind Peyron was Jean Le Cam in Bonduelle followed by Eric

Guillemot in Biscuits La Trinitaine.

The racing was due to continue on Saturday and Sunday.

The 2002 Orma circuit includes the offshore Courses des Phares starting on May 19 in Calais, the Zeebrugge Grand Prix from July 11 to 14, the Fecamp Grand Prix from September 12 and the Route Du Rhum single-handed in St. Malo on November 10.

Grand Prix du Pays de Lorient Race One

Did Not Start