Neville Crichton wins the Mini Maxi Racing trophy at the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup with Alfa Romeo 3

Porto Cervo, 12 September 2009 - Neville Crichton, aboard Alfa Romeo 3, confirmed himself as the fastest skipper/owner at the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup by winning the Mini Maxi Racing, followed by Hap Fauth on Bella Mente and Peter Ogden on Jethou. Crichton ran today's race, consistently fighting off the challenge of the US Bella Mente crew to hold onto a lead he built up over a week of intensive and wind-buffeted races. Alfa Romeo 3 fought a windward-leeward race handled like a match race.

The personal success achieved by Neville Crichton and that of the Alfa Romeo 3 confirmed that the radical changes made to the boat, now 60 cm longer and one tonne heavier, have borne fruit. The boat had already gone up a gear in Palma de Mallorca, where he won the Copa del Rey.

But as usual, Neville Crichton was not content to rest on his laurels and had already announced he was designing a new mini maxi in a quest for more thrills - and the boat could be ready for the end of the 2010 season. Neville Crichton has turned up with a new or fully renovated boat nearly every year at recent sailing seasons.

Neville Crichton commented “The boat goes really fast and is everything we expected, it is as agile and fast as a mini maxi racing should be, now I'm enjoying this moment and then I'll concentrate on the Rolex Sydney to Hobart, a 600 mile race that leaves on 26 December, Boxing Day, which will include the 6 fastest super maxi yachts in the world in the line up. I've already won this race and I'd like to do the same again with Alfa Romeo 2, which won the Transpac race this year, breaking the speed record by some 26 hours.”

Sergio Cravero, Managing Director of Alfa Romeo Automobiles, confirmed “We really have a lot in common with Crichton, he uses wind energy to go fast and we do all we can with our engines not to change his main energy source, i.e. air. At the end of 2008, we enthusiastically took up Crichton's new proposal: to complete a 2009 version of the Alfa Romeo 3 in just 8 months of work with a design developed in no fewer than 7 countries. A design inspired by passion, courage and racing, striving toward ever better and more advanced results in terms of technology and design. This challenge is familiar to us because it has always inspired and guided our brand through its history. Through Crichton and the Alfa Romeo boats, our name has gone down in the annals of success on the high seas. And so we continue to strengthen our brand image, to create passion and to reach out to a wider audience, now including the sailing fraternity”.