Principal sponsor of the Audi Sydney Harbour Regatta, Audi Australia, will give away a second car as a major prize at the regatta from 1 to 3 March – to generate record entries for 2008.

Audi’s managing director, Joerg Hofmann, has announced that the company will provide a second vehicle – an Audi A3 – in order to drive up entries for the event to a new record of 300 yachts.

All yachts that enter the ASHR will go into a lottery and one will win a new Audi A3. There is no restriction on the size of the keel yacht or number of crew entering one of the 20 competitive categories that make up the event.

The vehicle will be drawn at the prize giving event on the evening of Monday 3 March 2008.

“Audi is a successful brand for successful people and 2007 saw Audi Australia finish the year with historic growth of 25%. In line with our sales success, we also want to encourage new records in our sailing activities and this means we want to encourage more and more boats to enter our regattas,” said Joerg Hofmann, managing director, Audi Australia.

“This means that even crews who feel they don’t have a chance to win the overall vehicle prize for the event – a new Audi A4 – still have a strong chance of winning a new car. It is our incentive to attract over 300 yachts to participate in the 2008 regatta.

“However, the lottery will only take place if we exceed the 245 boats that entered the 2007 ASHR, so we ask all competitors to encourage their fellow sailors to enter,” Mr Hofmann continued.

The Audi A3 giveaway comes on top of the major prize which Audi offers to the winning yacht at the ASHR. The winning boat from each of the 20 categories takes part in a Final Challenge event at Eastern Creek Raceway where they will go head-to-head against other category winners in a competition of skill to determine the overall winner of the regatta and the brand new Audi A4 sedan.

The Audi Sydney Harbour Regatta will be held on the weekend of 1 – 3 March 2008.