Tom Slingsby and his Australian crew have been crowned champions of the KPMG Australia Sail Grand Prix I Sydney, flying home in front of an ecstatic and vibrant ‘Genesis Island’ crowd and a jam-packed Sydney Harbour to clinch the sensational win from Denmark and New Zealand in the three-boat final.
With the home crowd cheering them on, the Australia team finally secured its first win of SailGP Season 4 in a dramatic final after missing out in the previous seven SailGP events – despite six podium finishes – to keep Australia at the top of the Season 4 leaderboard and eight points ahead of closest rivals, New Zealand.
Slingsby said: “To win after coming so close so many times and in front of our home crowd of Sydney with our family and friends watching, it really doesn’t get much better than this.
“After the early start penalty, I was convinced it would be hard to get back in the race but the team did so well to set up so we could overtake the Danish to take the lead and get our first win of the season.”
Thousands of Australian fans watched on as the ten-strong fleet delivered exciting racing for the final two qualifying fleet races which saw Erik Heil’s Germany score its first ever SailGP race win – a great comeback after the near capsize from the team the day prior. Race 5 was close fought but it was Quentin Delapierre’s France that was the victor. Defending a strong challenge from Canada – who were back on the race track after a technical failure on the opening day – and Taylor Canfield’s USA, France had a convincing lead but unfortunately a race win was not enough to make the three-boat final and they finished the event fourth.
The super Sunday of racing came down to a nail biting winner-takes-all Final Podium Race between Australia, New Zealand – driven by Nathan Outteridge, standing in for Peter Burling – and Nicolai Sehested’s ROCKWOOL Denmark.
With all three teams highly motivated for the win; Slingsby his first event win of the season, Sehested his first ever SailGP event win, and Outteridge wanting to win for the Kiwi’s, all three-teams fought hard to get the best start. It looked like this would go to Outteridge as Slingsby held Sehested out but both teams mistimed their final run to the startline and ended up over the line early. This left the Danes out in front and leading at the first mark with both New Zealand and Australia picking up a penalty and having to slow down to get behind them.
An early split between Denmark and Australia allowed Slingsby to get back in the race and despite Sehested gaining to within a boat length right before the final mark, it was the Aussies who crossed the line first, much to the delight of the cheering home crowd.
Completing the podium was New Zealand who now has its sights firmly set on its home event, the ITM New Zealand Grand Prix, taking place in Christchurch on March 23-24. Limited tickets are available at SailGP.com/Christchurch.
With just four events remaining until the Season 4 Grand Final in San Francisco on July 13-14 – where US$2 million is on the line – there is still all to play with only seven points separating third and seventh positions.
KPMG AUSTRALIA SAIL GRAND PRIX I SYDNEY STANDINGS //
1 // Australia 10 points
2 // ROCKWOOL Denmark 9 points
3 // New Zealand 8 points
4 // France 7 points
5 // Spain 6 points
6 // Germany 5 points
7 // Emirates Great Britain 4 points
8 // Switzerland 3 points
9 // USA 2 points
10 // Canada 1 point
OVERALL SAILGP SEASON 4 STANDINGS (after eight events) //
1 // Australia 66 points
2 // New Zealand 58 points**
3 // ROCKWOOL Denmark 52 points
4 // Spain 48 points*
5 // France 45 points
6 // Emirates GBR 45 points
7 // USA 45 points
8 // Canada 38 points***
9 // Germany 21 points****
10 // Switzerland 17 points*****
*Spain SailGP Team docked two points in Season Championship for four-point penalty at Spain Sail Grand Prix | Andalucía-Cádiz
**New Zealand SailGP Team unable to compete in Taranto due to the structural failure of the team’s wingsail at France Sail Grand Prix | Saint-Tropez
***Canada SailGP Team Docked four points in Season Championship for eight-point penalty at France Sail Grand Prix | Saint-Tropez
****Germany SailGP Team docked two points in Season Championship for four-point penalty at Oracle Los Angeles Sail Grand Prix
*****Switzerland SailGP Team docked four points in Season Championship for eight-point penalty at Mubadala Abu Dhabi Sail Grand Prix presented by Abu Dhabi Sports Council
