by Miranda Blazeby SailGP Media
Blistering starts have propelled Australia to the top of the fleet on the first day of racing in Sydney, with Tom Slingsby’s Flying Roos looking unbeatable on home waters.
The Aussies delighted packed shoreside crowds with an ever improving racing performance, with Slingsby’s team picking up a 3-2-1-1 race record, ending the day with back-to-back wins and 37 points.
This puts the Flying Roos a full five points clear of Emirates GBR in second place, which also enjoyed impressive results, and 10 points clear of Quentin Delapierre’s returning France in third place.
Key to Australia’s dominating performance was the team’s flawless starts; the team blasted across the line to become the Mark 1 sprint leader in three out of four fleet races, while France picked up the inside line in the first race of the day.
Reflecting on the team’s day one performance, Australia driver Tom Slingsby said it had been ‘a tough day’. “It was a tough day – we’ve got a storm cloud coming in so it’s not a typical sea breeze – we’ve had wins and losses, but it was a great day.”
He added: “I don’t know what’s going on with our starts, but it’s all gelling. You need luck and we’ve had luck – gaps are opening up at the right time and sometimes it just clicks.”
The Aussies’ dominating performance led to the team topping the day’s key racing metrics, recording the highest speed of the day – 93.06 km/h, the shortest distance raced – 6.95 km, and the top flight time – 78.44%.
Sebastien Schneiter’s Switzerland had an improved showing, finishing the day in 4th overall, with 1-2-6-9 race results and picking up the best timed start of the day – the team crossed the start line of the first fleet race just 0.125 seconds after the gun.
Elsewhere, Quentin Delapierre’s France enjoyed a triumphant return to the racetrack after missing the first two events of the season. The team was often seen chasing Australia down and finished the day with a consistent 4-3-8-2 race record.
Speaking about the team’s return to the racetrack, Delapierre described the first day’s racing as ‘wonderful’. “Coming back to Sydney in these good conditions and with the new T-Foils – we are really taking a step forward.”
It was another disappointing performance for Peter Burling’s New Zealand, which finished the day 9th overall with 8-7-11-11 results. The team seemed to experience technical difficulties in the last race of the day, with grinder Louis Sinclair seen hanging off the back of the F50 in an attempt to fix the problem.
Erik Heil’s Germany meanwhile attempted to battle back from its unprecedented 32 event points penalty for three separate incidents in practice racing, finishing the day with -22 points.
Mubadala Brazil, which began the event on -8 points, finished the day on 0 points, while the United States did not race at all after sustaining damage in practice racing.
The KPMG Australia Sail Grand Prix | Sydney continues on February 9, with racing from 15:00 AEDT.
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