PLYMOUTH, United Kingdom - July 17, 2021 - Slingsby’s Australian Team secured their position as a top contender at the Great Britain SailG Grand Prix, after winning two out of the three fleet races on the first day of racing.
After securing two convincing wins in the fleet races, the Australians have finished up in equal second place on the leaderboard of race day one with France, on 18 points.
Elaborating on the team’s performance, Slingsby said, “we’re really happy, obviously you can’t ask for a better start than getting two race wins, but we were brought back down to earth pretty quickly in the third race, finishing last.”
“We are in the hunt and we are happy with a good day one that puts us in contention. We are going to work hard to get two good races under our belt tomorrow, with the aim of making the final match race”, Slingsby added.
The team’s success on the Sound was made even sweeter for the Australians, given the team were sailing with a brand new crew format for the first time in Plymouth, with Flight Controller Jason Waterhouse and Grinders Sam Newton and Kinley Fowler not competing in the event.
“Ed Powys has been thrown in the deep end with only three days of practice in the Flight Controller role and has done a really good job. We had faith in him that he would pick up the role quickly and he definitely rewarded us for that faith today,” said Slingsby.
The day was not without added drama with Phil Robertson’s Spanish Team receiving the first black flag in SailGP history, after a dangerous maneuver on the start line against the USA Team.
Slingsby commented on the penalty saying,“There are few maneuvers in these boats that are considered very dangerous, and barging on the start line is one of them because if there is nowhere for the boats to go, it can be catastrophic. The Spanish Team did this on the start line of race three, and I think the umpires made the right call in giving them the black flag.”
Racing will continue tomorrow in Plymouth, with all teams competing in two fleet races. The team’s dominant performance puts them in strong contention to qualify for the Great Britain Grand Prix Final tomorrow when the top three teams go head-to-head in the last race of the event.
Tomorrow’s racing will air live on Fox Sports and Kayo Sports at 11:30pm AEST. Kayo Sports are offering fans free access to both the live and replay racing, via it’s Kayo Freebies offer.
