R1 Stefan Langer Wins
Winners of Race 1 on the podium. In 3rd place Alberto Sironi, in 2nd place Mike Young and in 1st place Stefan Langer.
Stefan Langer crossed the finish line first to take 1st place in Race 1. After three days of bad weather, conditions turned soarable and a fast race was flown in good cumulus conditions.
The start gate opened at 14:45. The task was small at 119km distance. The climbs were weak at only 1m/s.
The first leg was 30km across to the foot of the mountains to the north. They will then cross a plain and need to climb there.
They will then cross a wider valley with at least three outlanding options.
The airfield is at 680m and cloudbase is about 1700m, which makes the conditions safe and flyable. But on the first leg, due to airspace restrictions, the maximum altitude is 1600m.
Stefan Langer after Winning Race 1 at SGP Final Pavullo.
The pilots lined up for the start and Erik Borgmann, Stephan Langer and Giorgio Galetto crossed the start line first, but the entire fleet was close behind. They set out along the first leg, which took them across a valley with no outlanding opportunities.
They reached the plateau and the fleet broke off into two groups, each looking for the best line of energy and a climb. The group that took the northern track were in what is normally the best position.
As the first gliders reached the first turning point, they were faced with the choice of looking for a climb immediately, or continuing on track to the second turnpoint to find a climb. However, they definitely needed a climb to continue on the next leg.
Maximillian Seis was the first to reach turnpoint 1 followed by Marek Sawczuk and Stefan Langer. The main body of gliders had to take a climb before the turnpoint.
The 2nd leg to the northwest was 46km. Halfway down the leg, seven pilots gathered at the same altitude, led by Mike Young and Maximillian Seis. At this point, Tilo Holighaus fell behind and was low.
The leaders were now low, but soon found a climb close to Pavullo. At this point they needed to climb on the sunny side of the Pavullo valley ridge. Stefan Langer was climbing well and headed towards his position to follow his climb.
Stefan reached the top of the thermal and left at least 200m above the rest of the fleet. He followed the clouds away from the track to find another climb, and would then need to cross the valley to the next ridge.
He reached cloudbase at 1600m and was now in a strong position. However, the race was far from over. All the other gliders were climbing well and now able to take a straighter line to the turn point and were gaining on the leaders. There were now two groups about 8km apart.
Still in the lead, Stefan headed out for the third turn point 12km away.
Several pilots including Mike Young, Albert Sironi and Lukasz Grabowski had climbed above 1800m. This gave them the opportunity to speed up and use their altitude to gain on the leaders, while Mike Gatfield and Tilo Holighaus were closer to 1000m, which restricted their choices.
Stefan was now above 1600m while several gliders, including Sebastian Kawa, came in 400m below him. He now had a possible final glide to the finish line, but with Kawa in the same position, if lower, the race was getting tighter.
Stefan remained in a good, leading position with Kawa and Giletto below but close on his tail. He crossed the finish line first, giving him 10 points for the day and placing him in the lead of the SGP final Series 11.
Sean Young
Stefan Langer landing after Race 1.
The other pilots to score points were:
2 Mike Young 8 points
3 Alberto Sironi 7 points
4 Klaus Kalmbach 6 points
5 Maximilian Seis 5 points
6 Gilles Navas 4 points
7 Hermann Leucker 3 points
8 Sebastian Kawa 2 points
9 Lukasz Grabowski 1 points
Full Results of Race 1 https://sgpfinal23.sgp.aero/results
Hermann Leucker flying a JS3 came 7th gaining 3 competition points.
Current SGP World Champion Sebastian Kawa finished in 8th position taking 2 competition points.