Season 5 (2024-25) of the Rolex SailGP race circuit continues with the upcoming ITM New Zealand Sail Grand Prix in Auckland on 18-19 January. SailGP’s first event in the City of Sails – but the third New Zealand event overall.
A major feature of the New Zealand event will be the fleet-wide roll out of the incoming, cutting-edge T-Foils.
These new foils saw the Canada F50 set a new SailGP speed record of 101.98 km/h during testing in San Francisco and are set to supercharge the fleet’s speeds when racing begins.
Auckland is the second event of Season 5, following the Emirates Dubai Sail Grand Prix season opener back in November 2024. That was a win for Peter Burling’s New Zealand Black Foils team ahead of Dylan Fletcher’s Emirates GBR and Taylor Canfield’s United States.
The Kiwi record at home is solid, with a second place finish in Season 3 followed by a triumphant and determined victory in Season 4, both on the South Island’s Lyttelton Harbour.
Auckland’s racecourse will be located on Waitematā Harbour, just minutes from downtown Auckland.
The Auckland racecourse is ‘on the smaller side’ of what the fleet is used to, resulting in close quarter, dynamic racing. For the fans, its a perfect layout, with the Tech Site, Race Stadium, Adrenaline Lounge and racecourse ‘all within 100m meters of each other’.
When it comes to the fleet, Burling picks all the likely culprits as his team’s greatest competition when racing gets underway; triple SailGP champions Australia, Season 4 Champions Spain, as well as Giles Scott’s Canada and Dylan Fletcher’s Emirates GBR.
Auckland will also see the return of Quentin Delapierre’s France, which sat out the season opener while awaiting a new F50. This will see 12 teams fighting it out for the event title for the first time.
Will season heavyweights New Zealand or Australia storm to victory, or will a fledgling team like Mubadala Brazil or Red Bull Italy rise to the occasion to take their first event win?
