ST TROPEZ, FRANCE – 10 September, 2021 –Slingsby and the Australia Team are hoping to keep their winning streak running this weekend in St Tropez, following their dominating wins at the Denmark and Plymouth SailGP events.
The action-packed race weekend will see the sport’s best athletes racing SailGP’s supercharged, identical, foiling catamarans in the stunning waters of St Tropez for the first time.
Slingsby is predicting light wind conditions over the race weekend, which have traditionally been a weakness for the team. However their recent performance in Aarhus, which had some of the lightest winds of season 2, suggests the team can still deliver a winning performance.
Slingsby commented saying, “the forecast is looking quite light for this weekend, very typical French Mediterranean conditions. Generally I'd say that isn't our strength, but we have been really improving and performing well in lighter conditions at recent events.
“Nathan Outteridge and his Japan Team are always the team to watch in these lighter air conditions. We have been sailing really well and we need to keep riding that confidence”, added Slingsby.
Although the Australian’s won against Ben Ainsle and his British Team in Aarhus, Slingsby still sees Ainsle’s side as one of their fiercest competitors in the fleet. Slingsby commented on this during the Driver’s press conference stating, “If I’m honest I think Ben is going to be strong [this weekend]. He got beaten for the first time at the last event and, for sure, he will come back strong.”
“Ben is so good because he’s been in that situation since he was 19 in the Olympics racing for a Gold medal. He’s been in that situation so many times with that pressure, and SailGP is the same sort of pressure. We race for two days and get put in a podium race where it’s winner-takes-all - and that is what he is good at”, added Slingsby.
Off the water, the Australian SailGP Team remains in third place in SailGP’s new Impact League, a world-first integrated second leaderboard created for all eight international teams, where the teams are rewarded for the positive actions they make to reduce their overall carbon footprint and help accelerate inclusivity in sailing. The team has been working closely with its Race For The Future partner Parley For The Oceans to maximise its positive impact and climb up the Impact League leaderboard too.
The France Sail Grand Prix will air live on Fox Sports and on Kayo Sports this Saturday, September 11 at 9:30 pm AEST and Sunday, September 12 at 9:30pm AEST. Kayo Sports are offering fans free access to both the live and replay racing, via it’s Kayo Freebies offer.
