The sixth event of Season 3 in Cádiz will heap pressure on the mid-fleet teams as the season passes the halfway point and the window of opportunity to reach the Grand Final begins to close, SailGP’s commentators have said.
The pressure is ‘really on’ those teams which can ‘realistically’ still make the Grand Final, commentator Stevie Morrison said, pointing to Great Britain, Denmark, France and the USA. Meanwhile season leaders Australia must retain their position at the top of the leaderboard and build on their narrow one point lead ahead of the Kiwis in second place.
“There’s a lot of pressure on all the teams in the fleet,” Morrison said, adding, “the only team without pressure on them is the Kiwis.”
Todd Harris agreed, adding that New Zealand and Australia will be looking to ‘return to their winning days and right the ship’, while the Americans will want to prove their triumph in Saint-Tropez was not ‘a one trick win’.
Morrison agreed: “The U.S. need to get a result otherwise Saint-Tropez just looks like a flash in the pan.”
Teams face a long wait to compete again following Cádiz and will not meet again until the Dubai Sail Grand Prix presented by P&O Marinas in November. This, Morrison said, makes Cádiz a ‘massive event’, not only for its halfway points in the calendar but for the long break afterwards.
Harris agreed: “After a big break, it will feel like starting over for these teams - if you’re not in the top five after Cádiz then I think you’re in trouble.”
All eyes will be on home favorites Spain, with driver Jordi Xammar looking to improve on the team’s 7th place finish in Season 2’s Spain Sail Grand Prix. The team suffered a disaster on the second day of the event, capsizing in practice and sustaining enough damage to prevent them from taking part.
Emily Nagel meanwhile said she ‘hoped’ Xammar would be ‘blurring out’ the pressure and distraction of racing at a home event. “Jimmy [Spithill, U.S. driver] summed it up when he talked out blurring out the noise and just focusing in the sailing,” Nagel said. “I hope Jordi is doing the same”.
The Spanish team finished 7th in Saint-Tropez in an ‘improved showing’, according to Morrison, but added, “I’m still not sure it’s what we expect from them.”
“They need to step it up a bit,” he said, “There’s a lot of talent on that boat but talent is theoretical and results are factual.”
Harris agreed, adding that the team should be ‘aiming to get into the top five in every race.”
The Spain Sail Grand Prix | Andalucía - Cádiz presented by NEAR takes place on 24-25 September.
