ROCKWOOL DEN driver Nicolai Sehested has admitted the team’s chances of qualifying for San Francisco’s $2 million Grand Final are now ‘almost impossible’ after a disappointing performance in New York.
The team had been highlighted, alongside France, as a possible contender for the Grand Final. But after finishing 8th in New York, the team now sits in 6th place - tied on 67 points with Canada in 5th.
The team started well in New York, picking up a second place finish in the first fleet race, but followed it with 8-5-10 finishes in the remaining three fleet races. Spain, currently in third, holds the last qualification place in the three-boat, winner-takes-all Grand Final, which means challenger teams have been specifically targeting Diego Botin’s team to with the aim of taking their place in the $2 million showdown.
Reflecting on New York, Sehested said the team ‘pushed a bit too hard’ in pursuit of a top three finish in the fifth fleet race.
“We were fighting to get into that Final because we knew Spain was having a bad event, so we needed a top three. and it didn’t happen - instead we ended up in the back of the fleet,” Sehested said after racing.
Spain currently has 76 points - just five ahead of Quentin Delapierre’s France in fourth with 71. This means France must beat Spain by 6 places outright to automatically qualify for the Grand Final.
Last season, France arrived in San Francisco in third place, but fell foul of Ben Ainslie’s match racing tactics on board Emirates GBR to slip down to fourth and lose the qualification place at the last moment.
But heading into San Francisco in pursuit of Spain, driver Quentin Delepierre said he is ‘feeling confident’ and ‘focused’.
“Anything can happen in San Francisco - it’s a tricky racing area, especially for the teams that have never done it, but I feel confident with being on the edge and San Francisco has quite choppy conditions,” Delapierre said after New York.
“The whole team is really focused on being in the Grand Final, so we are just going to give everything.”
The Season 4 Grand Final in San Francisco takes place on July 13-14.
