The seventh event of Season 3 marked a first for SailGP, with the league visiting the Middle East for the first time for the Dubai Sail Grand Prix.
The racecourse of Dubai’s Port Rashid provided the tightest track in SailGP history and offered the closest shoreside racing yet - with spectators just meters away from the foiling F50s.
Fickle winds played havoc with crews’ strategies on day one, with teams forced to drop down to four crew for the final race of the day. But Great Britain came out on top, finishing the day with two race wins.
It was a shocking first day for Tom Slingsby’s Australia, which finished the day in eight place, but an improved performance for Switzerland, which rounded off the day with a 5-7-3 racing record.
The wind arrived on day two, with the F50s doing battle in gusts up to 25 km/h. There was plenty of drama too, with Denmark forced to retire from the sixth and final fleet race due to technical difficulties and Jordi Xammar picking up his second ever race win since taking over as Spanish driver in Season 2.
New Zealand meanwhile narrowly missed out on a place in the Final after incurring four penalty points for a collision with Switzerland, allowing Australia to scrape into the podium showdown.
Great Britain, France and Australia battled it out for victory in the podium race, which became the closest in SailGP history. France dominated early on, but was overtaken by Great Britain at the fifth gate. However it was Australia which took advantage of a crucial error by the British team to seize the lead.
France was able to pass the British F50, which was still off the foils, to take second place while Ben Ainslie’s team was left to finish in third.
The Dubai Sail Grand Prix presented by P&O Marinas marked the last SailGP event of 2022. The action resumes with the Singapore Sail Grand Prix on January 14 & 15.
