ROCKWOOL Germany Sail Grand Prix Day 1 Race Recap: Is the Black Foils’ 13-Event Wait for A Win About to Come to An End?
After Saturday’s racing, there are three teams who are odds-on to make the Final and three more queuing up in Group B to join them, so all to play for ahead of the final day’s action. But which three made huge progress on Saturday, and which team is the favorite to win it after a disastrous season to date? Let’s find out.
Black Foils and DS Automobiles SailGP Team France consistent all day in Group A
The Black Foils SailGP Team are the favorites at 3.85 to go on and win the ROCKWOOL Germany Sail Grand Prix going into Sunday’s racing, the first time in many an event where that’s been the case after a lengthy absence from the Championship that saw them miss four events in a row due to a damaged boat.
Peter Burling and his crew dominated the proceedings over in Group A, finishing all three of Saturday’s races in the Top 3, and with a real symmetry to their results: a win in Race 1 was followed by a runner-up spot in Race 2 and a valuable third-place finish in Race 3.
It’s been 13 events and just over 13 months since their last win – at the 2025 Emirates Great Britain Sail Grand Prix in Portsmouth – so if they do get over the line on Sunday afternoon, there will be plenty of sighs of relief aboard the Black Foils’ F50.
So the Kiwis are top of Group A on 12 points, in pole position to make the Final – rated as just 1.07 shots to make it from here – but just one point ahead of DS Automobiles SailGP Team France, who had an extremely consistent day of their own with a fourth-placed finish, a race win, a runner-up spot and a new speed record of 107.63 km/h to show for their efforts.
The French are just 1.24 to make Sunday’s showdown and 4.55 to win the event from this position, something they’re no strangers to doing here in Sassnitz; they did, after all, win the event here last year.
Tom Slingsby finds his groove in Group B
Over in Group B, the Bonds Flying Roos SailGP Team got to 10 points after Saturday’s racing to lead their group, but did so in a rather different way from how the Kiwis and French accumulated their points.
They didn’t pick up a single point from the day’s final race, but then again they’d done all the hard work in the first two races, winning both of them.
Tom Slingsby and his team have been priced at 4.35 to win what would be their fourth event of the season after that famous three-peat earlier on in the season and are just 1.24 to make the Final. Given they’re such short odds to make the Final, it’s curious that they’re a bigger price than the Kiwis to take it.
But then again, maybe the Aussies aren’t as sure of a place in the Final as those odds suggest.
They’re one point ahead of the Artemis SailGP Team (2.28 to make the final), while the NorthStar SailGP Team (2.39) are on eight points and the Emirates Great Britain SailGP Team (3.46) on seven.
Even the Germany SailGP Team by Deutsche Bank on six and the United States SailGP Team on five can’t be ruled out entirely, though odds of 8.37 and 16.74 respectively suggest they have their work cut out for them if they’re to book their place in the big race on Sunday.
Either way, the closeness in the odds among the Swedes, Canadians and Brits suggests we should have two fascinating races ahead of us on Sunday where everyone will be perfectly aware of where they are in the Group standings and what they need to do to make that Final.
A good day’s work for Artemis
Just like with the Kiwis, consistency was the name of the game for Nathan Outteridge and his team, matching Burling’s efforts by never fishing outside the Top 3: three races, three third-place finishes.
Artemis to make the final at 2.94 was identified as the top value bet for the weekend after their record of making three finals in eight this season, so we’ll have to wait and see if that one comes good.
But at least, right now, they’re a shorter price to make the final than the one they were before the event got underway and are certainly in the mix to be in that four-boat showdown.
Groundhog Day for Los Gallos and their backers?
Of course, we couldn’t wrap things up without mentioning the team that is on course for a three-peat of their own this weekend: Los Gallos SailGP Team.
The winners in Halifax and Portsmouth understandably came here full of confidence, but some of it may have evaporated after a seventh (last) place finish in Race 1 was followed by a fourth in Race 2 over in Group A, leaving their chances of making the Final, let alone winning it, hanging by a thread.
But at least they’ve given themselves a chance by winning the last race of the day. That win took their tally from just two points to seven, but as we know, that’s still four off the French and five off the Black Foils, while Explora Journey Swiss are on the same points as them.
Los Gallos are now 5.53 to make the final, while their odds to win the event have lengthened from a pre-event price of 8.33 to their current price of 20.0.
But we’ve been here before with Los Gallos.
Just over a month ago in Portsmouth, they were at odds of 16.6 on Saturday evening to win the event, in a very similar position to the one they’re in now, where making the Final was no guarantee, and we all know what happened in that one.
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