Spain driver Diego Botin has set out his intentions for Season 4 after securing the team’s first ever event win on the Port of Los Angeles.
The young team squeaked into the three-boat, winner-takes-all Final by a margin of just one point to beat ROCKWOOL Denmark and Season 3 champions Australia.
Looking ahead to the rest of the 12-event calendar, Botin said: “We just need to keep doing the things that we are doing and keep the momentum going.”
The intention, he said, is not now to expect a podium position or win at every event. “We know that this is SailGP, and we are sailing against the best of the world - we will have ups and downs this season’.
Instead the ‘game plan’ is to ensure ‘external things, wins and losses don’t get us out of our rhythm’. “That’s the key to the season for us,” he added.
Reflecting on LA, Botin said the venue specific conditions of ‘flat water and a small course’ meant ‘we had the greatest chance of having a good event’.
The team, he said, is still ‘very condition dependent’. “Hard conditions - waves, currents and high winds - those are the conditions we still need to explore.”
Looking forward, Botin said he expects harder conditions in both Saint-Tropez and the team’s home event in Cadiz.
“Cadiz is the event we like the most, but those conditions don’t suit us so much at the moment,’ he said. “It’s probably the most wavy event and those are the conditions we haven’t faced yet in our new configuration but we are super excited and just have to go there and do the best we can.”
After winning its first event in LA, Spain currently sits second on the overall Championship leaderboard - just one point behind Season 3 champions Australia.
