Neal McDonald's Assa Abloy leaves La Rochelle tomorrow with one aim in mind - to beat the Volvo Ocean Race leaders Illbruck Challenge in the tricky 1,075-mile obstacle course to Gothenburg.

Assa lies just eight points behind the German boat with two legs of the VOR remaining. A maximum of 16 points left in the race means McDonald could still take the title in his first major offshore race as skipper.

But Illbruck need just one more point over Assa to ensure overall victory, a challenge that should pose few problems to John Kostecki's crew, who have dominated the race from the first leg out of Southampton last September.

"We know Illbruck are strong and they will have to do very badly in the last two legs - lower than fourth - while we need to be first in both," said Hamble's McDonald speaking exclusively to The Daily Echo.

"Realistically, the odds of us beating them are slim but we will go out and give it our all. We have spent a lot of time thinking about how we are going to play it.

"We can't be too aggressive because of the guys behind us. It is easier for them to catch us up than it is for us to catch Illlbruck.

"In terms of difficulty, this leg scores nine out of ten. Tidal gates, rocks, shipping lanes; this leg has got it all. It is tremendously difficult and has 27 or more marks of the course. There are a lot of little bits to remember, a navigator's nightmare."

Unlike most of the other boats, Assa Abloy, which was built in Southampton under the exacting eye of Lymington crewmember Jason Carrington, has suffered very little gear failure and McDonald is mindful they are due a failure.

"We have spent a lot time checking everything while we've been in La Rochelle - we have worked really hard on the boat so I am as confident as I can be."