{"id":82489,"date":"2025-08-18T13:54:50","date_gmt":"2025-08-18T17:54:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/?p=82489"},"modified":"2025-08-18T15:11:36","modified_gmt":"2025-08-18T19:11:36","slug":"french-sailgp-team-rises-to-the-occassion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/racing\/french-sailgp-team-rises-to-the-occassion\/","title":{"rendered":"French SailGP Team Rises to the Occasion"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\"\" <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n
\n Quentin Delapierre, driver of France SailGP Team at the helm during a practice session ahead of the Germany Sail Grand Prix in Sassnitz, Germany. <\/span>\n Felix Diemer\/SailGP<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t <\/figcaption>\n <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n

In a stunning weekend comeback, the France SailGP<\/a> Team claimed their first event win of the 2025 Season, bouncing back from near-disaster in practice to beat Australia\u2019s BONDS Flying Roos and Emirates GBR in an action-packed winner-takes-all Final.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a victory driver Quentin Delapierre called, \u201csuper special\u201d Les Bleus move into fifth on the Rolex SailGP Championship standings, while Emirates GBR jockeys into third ahead of Spain, now fourth. Australia and New Zealand sit first and second, respectively, tied on points with 61 each.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Celebrating the win, Delapierre, who began the weekend in hospital after the team\u2019s rudder broke in practice, said: \u201cWe knew we had to deliver our best performance this weekend \u2013 with focus on tactics, strategy and, yeah, a bit of luck.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\"\" <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n
\n France SailGP Team celebrate winning the race final on Race Day 2 of the Germany Sail Grand Prix in Sassnitz, Germany.<\/span>\n Ricardo Pinto for SailGP<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t <\/figcaption>\n <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n

It was not the first high-stakes incident for the French crew, which also missed out on last month\u2019s Emirates Great Britain Sail Grand Prix when the team\u2019s wing sail snapped just moments before racing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis win was super special \u2013 for the CEOs, our management, partners and the athletes of course,\u201d Delapierre added. \u201cAs I said at the press conference, it\u2019s been a while since we won an event at SailGP. It\u2019s always a special feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

France, which last topped the event podium in Season 3, is now the sixth team to win an event this season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Competing in their first event Final since March (Los Angeles), Australian driver Tom Slingsby had a strong weekend, finishing top three in all but one race. Slingsby said: \u201cSince the wing collapsed in San Francisco, we feel like we haven\u2019t been able to get back in there, so this weekend, we\u2019re really glad with how we sailed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Emirates GBR also showed grit and resilience, dominating with back-to-back wins in fleet races 5 and 6 less than 24 hours after a shocking collision with the US SailGP team appeared to put the team\u2019s weekend in the balance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Americans, at fault for the port-starboard collision which occurred while they were attempting to duck behind the British F50, did not sail the weekend\u2019s remaining races. Video from the race shows crewmember Andrew Campbell advising skipper Taylor Canfield through he maneuver, the duck was not enough. The US boat\u2019s port bow was sheared off as it collided with the British team\u2019s rudder and port stern section.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\"Germany <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n
\n USA SailGP Team helmed by Taylor Canfield lead France SailGP Team helmed by Quentin Delapierre, Emirates Great Britain SailGP Team helmed by Dylan Fletcher and Germany SailGP Team presented by Deutsche Bank helmed by Erik Heil on Race Day 1 of the Germany Sail Grand Prix in Sassnitz, Germany. <\/span>\n Jason Ludlow\/SailGP<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t <\/figcaption>\n <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n

\u201cAfter an encouraging start to the Germany Sail Grand Prix, the U.S. SailGP Team was involved in contact with Emirates Great Britain in Race 4,\u201d said a team statement issued after racing, \u201cresulting in race-ending damage for both boats. We understand this is the nature of our sport and are relieved no one was injured.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SailGP\u2019s technical shore team repaired the British boat overnight, scarfing a section from the US team\u2019s boat and returning them to the racecourse in time for the final day of racing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\"USA <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n
\n Aerial view of the damage to USA SailGP Team helmed by Taylor Canfield F50 catamaran hull following a collision with Emirates Great Britain SailGP Team helmed by Dylan Fletcher on Race Day 1 of the Germany Sail Grand Prix in Sassnitz, Germany.<\/span>\n Felix Diemer\/SailGP<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t <\/figcaption>\n <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n

Thanking on-shore teams for the overnight repair, British driver Dylan Fletcher said: \u201cYou wouldn\u2019t believe it \u2013 an absolutely unbelievable effort to ensure our team could race today, so this really goes out to them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The conditions on Championship Sunday marked a notable change from the fast and furious racing on day one in Sassnitz.  Light, shifty breeze called for tactical racing, in which teams unafraid to take risks were rewarded with strategic gains across the course. Those left in the back found themselves struggling in disturbed air.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\"2025 <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n
\n Season Standings as of August 2025.<\/span>\n Courtesy SailGP<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t <\/figcaption>\n <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n

Despite missing out on his first home final, driver Erik Kosegarten-Heil said he was pleased with the Germany SailGP, presented by Deutsche Bank, team\u2019s weekend results \u2013 a fifth overall. \u201cFor sure the event gives us some confidence,\u201d he said. \u201cWe worked really hard on many things here, between events and, really, all year. It\u2019s nice to see some things turn around slowly and I\u2019m really looking forward to the next couple of events.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The US SailGP did not pocket any points for the regatta, nor did Mubadala Brazil, which suffered catastrophic structural damage to their boat on the practice day as a result of a high-speed nose-dive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014Report provided by SailGP Media<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SailGP’s first foray into Germany was not short on drama with boats breaking and colliding, and the French team bagging its first season win.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":82490,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"BS_author_type":"BS_author_is_guest","BS_guest_author_name":"Dave Reed","BS_guest_author_url":"","hydra_display_date":"","hydra_display_updated":false,"_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":"","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"","_yoast_wpseo_title":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","arc_story_id":"","arc_website_url":"","custom_permalink":"","arc_subtype":"","arc_exclude_from_feeds":false,"sponsored":false,"sponsored_label":"Sponsored Content","sponsored_display_label":false,"sponsored_image":false,"post_right_rail":true,"post_right_rail_ad_1":true,"post_right_rail_ad_2":true,"post_right_rail_ad_3":false,"post_right_rail_ad_4":false,"post_right_rail_recirc":true,"fixed_anchor_ad":true,"post_top_ad":true,"post_off_ramp":true,"post_taboola":false,"labels":true,"apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":"","ad_targeting":"","ad_settings_ads_on_this_page":true,"ad_settings_automatic_ad_injection_into_the_content":true,"sponsored_url":"","social_share":true,"alternate_title_newsletter":"","alternate_content_newsletter":""},"categories":[159],"tags":[1446],"class_list":["post-82489","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-racing","tag-sailgp"],"acf":[],"apple_news_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82489","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82489"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82489\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}