New Zealand Beat Home Favourites In Portsmouth
Chaos reigns supreme on Day Two of the Emirates Great Britain Sail Grand Prix – here's what happened...
Published 07/20/2025
New Zealand claimed their first win since the opening event of SailGP Season Five - managing to steer clear of the chaos that reigned throughout Super Sunday.
There was good news before racing began as it was confirmed the France SailGP Team would be involved after Saturday’s catastrophic wing collapse in the warm-up. Thanks to tireless through-the-night efforts from the SailGP Technologies team, the French wing was completely rebuilt using a combination of salvaged and new parts, enabling Quentin Delapierre and co. to take to the water in Portsmouth.
That luck did not extend to the U.S. SailGP Team, however, who were forced to sit out Fleet Race 5 and 6 as one of the boards on the F50 would not drop.
Mac Agnese looks relaxed ahead of racing on Day Two
NorthStar Canada had the lead out of the start box but chopped and changed with New Zealand throughout Race 5. Approaching the final two legs, Canada fell off the foils and it proved costly. Peter Burling and New Zealand were the beneficiaries with the Black Foils winning a drag race to the finish line. Hosts Emirates Great Britain continued their excellent weekend on home waters, taking third place.
The drama was far from over, though. Fleet Race 7 started and was immediately abandoned as a spectator boat was on the course. That meant a reset and there was a welcome return to form for Quentin Delapierre and France. Ruled out on Saturday in worrying circumstances, they breezed to victory by seeing off the challenge of Red Bull Italy and Switzerland - two nations continuing on from impressive showings on Saturday.
New Zealand cross the line to fireworks to claim their second event win
There was a huge setback for the BONDS Flying Roos, however, who dropped from fifth to 11th after being handed a penalty, a mistake that looked costly for their chances of reaching the Grand Final. A fourth place finish for Emirates GBR guaranteed their spot. However, technical issues looked to have ruled them out of Fleet Race 7.
Another false start gave Spain time to work on their fairings while Emirates GBR, who looked set to sit out the final Fleet Race of the day, joined the fleet late along with Taylor Canfield and the U.S. SailGP Team who started their first race of the day.
But the race belonged to Peter Burling and the Black Foils who overtook the French and never looked back to claim their second fleet win of the day. They joined Emirates Great Britain and first-time finalists Switzerland in a one-lap Grand Final.
Dylan Fletcher and co. looked to have nailed the start but Switzerland had the inside line approaching mark one. Burling and the Black Foils had work on their hands to make up ground but, gradually, they did exactly that to claim their first win since Dubai, in doing so shaking up the Championship leaderboard.
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