Quantum Racing’s skipper Terry Hutchinson is doing his utmost to unfold a programme that will give his crew the best chance of becoming the first to win the MedCup TP52 Circuit two years in succession.

The team has just completed 12 good days of training, tuning and testing off Valencia in preparation for the first regatta of the season, and will log six more training days in Alicante before racing starts there on 12 May for the TP52 Series.

The hull shape and keel of the Botin Carkeek designed Quantum Racing remain unchanged on last year – other than small refinements and some structural improvements. Their main strategy has been to get more speed from the the rig and sails.

“We have sailed for twelve days now in Valencia and it was all good,” Hutchinson reported this week. “I think I made a comment to someone that it is nerve racking because everything is going so smoothly, and so you kind of wonder what is out there that we are missing, but we have an extra 14 months with the boat under our belts as we start this season, and that makes a big difference.”

The team’s immediate goal is to leverage maximum advantage from the accumulated knowledge of their winning boat in the early part of the season:

“Everything we have seen in pictures of the new boats is what you’d expect them to be,” added Hutchinson. “At this early time in the season while they are still figuring out their boats it is going to be pretty even racing, but as the season wears on you would expect the new boats to be better.”

Quantum Racing were a formidable force in 2008 and all the signs are that they will be equally tough to beat on the 2009 Audi MedCup Circuit.

The Circuit is made up of five events that take place over five months:

City of Alicante Trophy, 12 – 17 May
Marseille Trophy, 9 – 14 June
Region of Sardinia Trophy, 20 – 25 July
Portugal Trophy, 18 – 23 August
Region of Murcia Trophy, 14 – 19 September