Phil Robertson’s Canadian team must make the Final in Christchurch this weekend to keep their Grand Final hopes alive, according to SailGP’s commentary team.
Previewing this weekend’s racing on the Deep Dive podcast, Todd Harris, Stevie Morrison and Emily Nagel said the pressure is on Robertson’s team to repeat their Season 3 triumph in Christchurch after technical problems in Sydney caused devastating damage to their season score.
The team finished last month’s event in dead last after technical problems prevented them from racing on the first day of the event.
Heading into Christchurch, the team currently sits 8th on the overall leaderboard with 38 points - behind France, Emirates GBR, and the USA in 5th, 6th and 7th respectively, all with 45 points.
“I think for Canada, it’s almost like they have to win here in Christchurch,” said Morrison. “Sydney was a bit out of their control, but they had a shocker - let’s not underestimate that.”
Nagel disagreed the team has to win, but ‘they do have to make the top three’.
“You’d still make a decent number of points to keep your head in the game a little bit, but if you’re not making the Final, you’ve got a lot on,” she said.
It comes after SailGP boss Russell Coutts debriefed Sydney’s event, specifically the ‘bad luck’ of Canada’s technical troubles.
“There’s no redress in SailGP, so unfortunately that meant they were always going to finish the weekend at the back of the fleet,” he said. However he was optimistic of Canada’s chances this weekend.
“They won here last season and if [driver] Phil Robertson can get his mojo back, I have every expectation they’ll do well with the conditions forecast for this weekend,” he said.
