UPDATE: Format Changes For Auckland Sail Grand Prix Day 2
Details of changes to the format for Day 2 of the ITM Auckland Sail Grand Prix
Published 02/14/2026
SailGP will implement a split-fleet racing format for day two of the ITM New Zealand Sail Grand Prix in Auckland.
The decision has been taken with stronger wind conditions forecast for Sunday – on the tight, stadium-style racetrack. Following Saturday’s on-water incident involving New Zealand and France, eleven F50s will compete on Sunday.
How the split-fleet format works:
The fleet will be divided into two groups, Group A and Group B, based on the current event leaderboard, with teams being placed in groups from the top of leaderboard down ‘Group A- Group B- Group B- Group A’ and so on, as below.
Each group will contest two fleet races – four fleet races in total. Points are awarded within each group on a 5-4-3-2-1-0 scale.
Group A – FRA*, NZL*, GBR, GER, BRA, CAN, ITA
Group B – AUS, ESP, DEN, SWE, SUI, USA
(*Not racing but still sorted into groups because both teams started the regatta)
Teams carry forward their points from day one into Sunday’s racing with points for each Group being added to each team’s cumulative score from Saturday in one cumulative leaderboard for the weekend. The top three teams will advance to the winner-takes-all Final. As always in SailGP, the winner of the Final wins the event, with finishing order determining positions one through three in the Final.
What this means for racing:
The format is designed to support competitive racing on a tight course, while maintaining SailGP’s high-performance standards and broadcast delivery. Splitting the fleet reduces congestion at certain places in the course, especially at the bottom mark.
Fans can expect four split races plus the winner-takes-all Final, clearer head-to-head match-ups and the same decisive, first-across-the-line outcome that defines SailGP events. Standard SailGP tie-break procedures apply if required – awarding the team who finished better most recently, starting with the last split fleet race of the day and working backwards if needed.
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