With three Periods to go the big change in the top six is that Vic Roads' 'MNW' move up to 5th displacing MottMac's 'Buckingham Palace' who slip from 6th to 8th. MTR's 'PPE' consolidate in top position only 67 points ahead of Atkins Asia Pacific's 'Prevail' who move up to 2nd from 3rd swapping places with Arup's 'AgRUP of MEN' in 3rd but there is only two points between them. MTR's 'Synergy' hold their 4th place. Last year we had two MTR teams in the final and they travelled to Loughborough to take part coming second and third. Could we see two MTR teams again? MottMac's 'Motts of Steel' slip from 5th to 6th. At this point there are three Hong Kong teams, two UK teams and one Australian team in the top six. Still outside the top six but threatening are Aurecon's 'Invictus' but only 37 points behind, a further 8 points back are MottMac's 'Buckingham Palace' so although slipped from Period 8 are by no means out of it.
The average of the % improvement was 11% so to make a relative movement teams had to do better than this. The big movers upwards were: Arup's 'It's all Ova now' up 4 places to 9th; Atkins' India's 'Sigma' up 7 to 13th on top of a rise of 5 places in Period 8 they look to be on a roll; URS's 'endeavoURS' up 8 to 14th; Arup's 'YAP up 7 to 19th; Atkins' 'The Resistors' up 5 places to 22nd; and the biggest gain of Period 9 is Atkins India's 'QUIXOTIC DESIGN INC' up 21 places to 26th. Both of the Atkins India's teams did well this Period so we may well see one in the Final matching their performance last year. They could, of course, do better and get both into the Final. Inevitably some teams moved in the other direction but they could turnround they just need to analyse the decisions that have shaped their performance and review their strategy.
With three periods to go and movements as big as 21 places it's still game on. The top six aren't secure yet. The standard deviation of the % performance improvement was 5% same as last period. We're expecting a greater variation in the performance figures as teams take more risky decisions in the run in, this could produce bigger movements than those that we've seen. Good luck to every team.
Click here to see the League table For Period 9
In the sponsors award, which goes to the sponsors with the best three performing teams, Mott MacDonald continue to hold the top spot, but Atkins have now climbed over Arup into the second spot.