Canada driver Phil Robertson has paid tribute to his team for sticking with him throughout Canada’s recent ownership changes.
Speaking in Chicago, Robertson revealed he told the team at Season 3’s Grand Final in San Francisco that there was ‘no certain future’ for Canada after the previous owners stepped away. Canada is now being operated by SailGP as the league mulls ownership offers from other parties.
Despite this, Robertson said the entire team stuck together as they waited for confirmation that Canada would be on the start line of Chicago.
“I said I was very positive that there will be a future for this team and they stuck by those words,” he revealed.
Some team members received offers from other teams but turned them down in the hope that Canada would be returning for Season 4.
“A lot of them had offers to go other places which had certainty - it’s a job for them,” Robertson said, ‘and they waited until five days before Chicago when they got a text saying yes, we’re going - and that’s the kind of squad you want behind you when you’re a driver.”
It comes after Robertson admitted at a pre-event press conference that the team ownership changes were ‘unsettling’.
As a newcomer team, Canada had an impressive first championship in Season 3, finishing fifth overall and picking up an event win in Christchurch. The team finished the season on a promising trajectory, finishing the San Francisco event in third. This continued in Chicago - the team perform well in fleet racing to win a place in the three-boat Final, finishing the event in third overall.
