New Zealand’s ‘Black Foils’ – driven by Peter Burling – claimed victory at the ITM New Zealand Sail Grand Prix in Christchurch, New Zealand.
After the cancellation of racing Saturday, SailGP implemented a ‘Super Sunday’ race format, consisting of three fleet races and then a winner-takes-all final podium race.
What Race Day One lacked in action, Race Day Two certainly made up for, with chaos and collisions on the racecourse.
Season leader Australia was ruled out of the event following a collision with a course mark just after the start of race 1, leaving them with event-ending damage., and changing the dynamic for the entire event.
Driver Tom Slingsby said: “The moment was a blur. As we rounded the mark we had two boats on our inside and we looked like we were going to hit Canada. It hasn’t really sunk in yet and the results are what they are, I’m just glad that all our people are safe.”
The first race of the day went the way of hometown favorites, the Black Foils, with New Zealand taking the lead on the start and finishing by overtaking France on the final mark to claim the opening victory on Lyttelton Harbour.
Race two went the way of Canada – with native Kiwi driver Phil Robertson at the wheel.
The third and final fleet race to the podium saw Quentin Delapierre’s France take the win, resulting in three races with three different winners – France, New Zealand and Canada – set to go head-to-head in the three-boat podium final.
A strong start in the final podium race from the Kiwis saw Canada having to keep clear of them on the line, with the Black Foils taking the first mark with France in hot pursuit.
Canada split the pack after the second mark, a decision that caused them to trail for the remainder of the race and allowing the Black Foils to take a strong early lead, ahead of France.
Leading on the course all the way to the finish, Burling took the finish line in a convincing fashion, to the delight of the 11,000 strong home crowd. The win put them top of the overall season leaderboard.
Penalties played a decisive part in the event and season Leaderboards.
The penalty points awarded to Australia for the damage caused in race 1 – a total of eight season points – sees the Kiwi’s overtake top the overall leaderboard, nine points in front of Australia. However, Australia have requested a points penalty review.
Nicolai Sehested’s ROCKWOOL Denmark was docked four season points for an incident at the start of the first race with Canada, causing substantial damage to the bow of the Danish F50. The Danish team sustained damage to their bow but all three teams continued to race.
And Emirates GBR finished the event in seventh place, but it would have been fifth had they not received penalty points for a collision with Spain during practice racing on Friday. They finished the three fleet races with a 4-3-8 result.
Emirates GBR Driver Giles Scott said: “It was a pretty big day out there and it looks like we won’t be the only ones to come away from this event with penalty points. The Aussies have some pretty major damage and Denmark were sailing with part of their bow missing, so there was lots of carnage which luckily we were able to avoid today.”
“Our aim is still to make the Grand Final in San Francisco in July, that’s not going to be easy but we will take every race as it comes and we’re looking forward to the next event in Bermuda in May.”
2024 ITM NEW ZEALAND SAIL GRAND PRIX | CHRISTCHURCH RESULTS
1st – NEW ZEALAND
2nd – FRANCE
3rd – CANADA
4th – SPAIN
5th – GERMANY
6th – SWITZERLAND
7th – EMIRATES GBR
8th – UNITED STATES
9th – ROCKWOOL DENMARK
10th – AUSTRALIA
2023/24 SAILGP SEASON 4 OVERALL LEADERBOARD
Note that Emirates GBR received an eight-point event penalty, and also deducted four season points after their collision during practice racing.
The league now moves to the tenth stop of the season – the Apex Group Bermuda Sail Grand Prix – on 5-6 May.
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