ROCKWOOL Denmark SailGP Team fell to eighth place in the Mubadala New York Sail Grand Prix, as New Zealand SailGP Team scored its fifth event win of the season.
The Danish team – which went into day two’s racing in fifth spot – took another fifth place in Race 3, before finishing tenth in Race 4 after crashing the boat into the water at the first turning mark.
“We’re really frustrated. We felt like we were in a good place, with Spain having a below average event, and we really wanted to push on for the final. I think we pushed too hard – sometimes that’s sport, you want it too much and it can end up costing you dearly– but we had the worst possible Race 4.”
“It’s too early to know what happened – we need to go away and debrief, look at the data, before speculating on what happened. We win as a team and we lose as a team. It is a heavy feeling right now.
He adds: “I haven’t really been able to look at the results yet, but I imagine that makes it pretty much impossible for us to make the overall final. We will go away and look at it, and make a plan for San Francisco.”
Denmark began the New York event in good shape, taking a second place in Race 1 – but as light winds challenged the fleet, they fell to eighth place in Race 2.
Sunday saw a fifth placed finish in Race 3 – before a disastrous tenth in the final fleet racing of the weekend.
The result leaves the Danes sitting in sixth place overall in the Season 4 standings, level on points with Canada SailGP Team, with one event remaining – the SailGP Season 4 Grand Final in San Francisco.
Nine points separate the Danish boat from the season podium places – making it mathematically possible, but unlikely that they will make the all-important top three to qualify for the season final on 13-14 July on the west coast.
However, the ROCKWOOL team could still record a best-ever SailGP result, having finished in sixth spot in both of the past two seasons.
“We have spent most of the season in the podium places, and then we’ve just gone backwards when it really counts at the end of the season. We need to take a look at why that is, and find out how we can improve as a team,” continues Sehested.
The next SailGP event is the Season 4 Grand Final in San Francisco on 13-14 July.
