Race 7 was a wild card day with marginal weather and delayed launching. But in the end all three classes were flown and all but ten completed their courses.
Task 7 was flown on 26 May across all three classes competing at the 40th FAI World Gliding Championships in Poland. All tasks were set as Assigned Area Tasks with a fixed window of 2 hours 30 minutes for the 20 Metre Multi-Seat and Open classes, and 2 hours for the 18 Metre class.
20 Metre Multi-Seat
The 20 Metre Multi-Seat class was set a task with a nominal distance of around 227 km and a maximum extent of 563 km, with the optimised distance for the day's winner coming in at 242 km. Belgian crew Delfosse and De Broqueville, flying an Arcus T, took the day's win with a speed of 96.9 kph over 242 km, collecting 800 points.
Hungarian crew Kassai and Mészáros finished second at 93.75 kph, with German pair Leucker and Omsels third at 93.17 kph despite covering the longest distance of the finishers at 249 km. The British entry of Jones and Coppin, flying an Arcus M, came fourth at 92.69 kph.
The Jakubcak and Sulirova crew received a scoring penalty under LP 7.3.2.c.i, which affected their points tally.
In the overall standings after seven tasks, Leucker and Omsels lead on 5,652 points, with Grabowski and Czyż second on 5,474 and Kassai and Mészáros third on 5,443. Delfosse and De Broqueville's day win lifts them to eighth overall on 5,019 points, while the Australian crew of Woolley and Gateley are fourth overall on 5,378.
Open Class
The Open Class task covered a nominal distance of 247 km with a maximum extent of 596 km, again with a 2 hour 30 minute window. Fifteen competitors started, and twelve made it home.
Austrin pilot Christian Hynek, flying an EB 29DR, took the day win at 100.61 kph over 259 km, scoring the maximum 678 points. Dutch pilot Bas Seijffert in an EB 29R was second at 99.27 kph, t Sebastian Kawa, flying a JS5, finished third at 98.28 kph.
The German team Felipe Levin was fourth at 97.53 kph and Michael Sommer fifth at 96.29 kph. Three pilots — Russell Cheetham, Jan Buch-Madsen, and Oscar Goudriaan — did not complete the task.
Despite the day win, Hynek sits only twelfth in the overall standings on 4,578 points. The overall lead is held by Felipe Levin on 6,166 points, with Michael Sommer close behind on 6,147 and Sebastian Kawa third on 6,010. The top of the Open Class standings remains closely contested, with the French duo Sylvain Gerbaud fourth on 5,917 and Laurent Aboulin fifth on 5,700.
18 Metre Class
The 18 Metre class had the largest field of the day with 42 starters and flew a shorter task with a 2-hour window, a nominal minimum of 182 km and maximum extent of 526 km. The optimised distance for the day was 231 km, and the day was won by US pilot Sean Fidler in an AS 33 Es at 105.49 kph over 217 km, taking 577 points.
French pilot Christophe Abadie was second at 103.97 kph in a JS3 TJ, and Victor Mallick third at 103.72 kph in a JS3. Stefan Langer was fourth at 98.55 kph, with Mario Kiessling fifth at 97.09 kph.
The class saw a number of gliders fail to complete the task, with seven pilots landing short.
Fidler's win was a useful result for overall standings, where he moves to fifth place on 5,133 points. The French and Germans have the top four positions with Victor Mallick leading overall on 5,541 points, ahead of Stefan Langer on 5,498 and Christophe Abadie third on 5,443. Mario Kiessling sits fourth on 5,421, making the top four closely packed with under 120 points separating first from fourth.
There are not three potential tasks still to be flown. With all classes stillin contention none of the leaders can yer relax, they alll need to keep preforming at the top of their classes.
