Mike Sanderson (NZ) and his crew on ABN AMRO ONE scored a dominant victory in the fourth in-port race of the Volvo Ocean Race 2005-06 on Saturday.

Overall race winners ABN AMRO ONE took an early lead in the race, which took place on Guanabara Bay in 10-14 knots of wind. They sailed well to extend throughout, going on to score their third race win in a row in the in-port races.

Behind ABN AMRO ONE there was a great battle for the remaining podium positions between Paul Cayard’s (USA) Pirates of the Caribbean, Ericsson Racing Team, under the guidance of new skipper John Kostecki (USA) and with HRH the Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden onboard, and Bouwe Bekking’s (NED) movistar.

In the end second place went to movistar who sailed a great race, moving up from third place overall to hang in behind ABN AMRO ONE and win a valuable three points to add to their score line. With the boat only going in the water 24 hours before the in-port race, the team have worked hard for this result.

The final podium place went to Ericsson Racing Team whose week of training on Guanabara Bay paid off. Kostecki and his crew fought their way from fifth place to move up through the fleet to take third place overall.

Local hero’s Brasil 1, skippered by Torben Grael, rounded the first mark in second place but in doing so made an illegal move causing them to be penalised by the on-water umpires which dropped them to the back of the fleet. From there on in, their only choice was to take some risks. A final charge on the last leg saw them move up from sixth place overall to fourth.

Results (provisional)

1st ABN AMRO ONE, Mike Sanderson (NZL) 3.5 pts
2nd Movistar, Bouwe Bekking (NED) 3 pts
3rd Ericsson Racing Team, John Kostecki (USA) 2.5 pts
4th Brasil 1, Torben Grael (BRA) 2 pts
5th ABN AMRO TWO, Sebastien Josse (FRA) 1.5 pts
6th Pirates of the Caribbean, Paul Cayard (USA) 1 pt

Current Leaderboard (provisional)

1st ABN AMRO ONE, Mike Sanderson (NZL) 52.5 pts
2nd ABN AMRO TWO, Sebastien Josse (FRA) 36.5 pts
3rd Pirates of the Caribbean, Paul Cayard (USA) 31.5 pts
4th Movistar, Bouwe Bekking (NED) 31.0 pts
5th Brasil 1, Torben Grael (BRA) 28.5 pts
6th Ericsson Racing Team John Kostecki (USA) 23.5 pts