Great Britain SailGP team at Marseille SailGP - Overall: Brits take fourth place
by Leslie Ryan 22 Sep 22:00 BST
20-22 September 2019
Great Britain SailGP team at Marseille SailGP Season 1 Grand Final © Lloyd Images for SailGP
It was all on for today. The final two fleet races to decide the third place podium following by the climax to the season-long rivalry between Australia and Japan for the $1m prizemoney and the title of SailGP Season 1 Champion. The British team were ready for the battle and went into the day on equal points with the Chinese - it promised to be intense with both of these two teams in the running to claim that final podium place.
But it was not to be for Dylan Fletcher and his British team - the wind was super light and the Brits had a disastrous first race getting caught out by a wind hole at the start and, despite closing the gap, they finished in 4th place. Much to the joy of the home fans, the French team took their first race win this season and the Chinese finished in 2nd position. Following a short postponement and the wind dying out, luck was not on the side of the British athletes today and the final fleet race had to be cancelled - Team China took 3rd place overall with 171 points and Great Britain SailGP finished up their first season in a very credible 4th place on 169 points.
"It has been such a challenging year for our team and I am super proud despite today's result. We are naturally gutted not to have secured the 3rd place podium that was within our grasp but I have loved every minute of the SailGP championship and we have grown so much as a team. It's a shame that we cannot keep racing and that we have to wait until February 2020 to compete again in Sydney but we are going to use the time to train and prepare so we ready to join the top table for SailGP season two." commented Dylan Fletcher, British team skipper.
Breakdown of Great Britain SailGP'S first season:
- Two event third places (Sydney and San Francisco)
- One event fourth place (Marseille)
- Two event sixth places (New York and Cowes) - capsize and boat damage (6 races missed)
- 25 fleet races done during the season - GBR team completed 19 of them - 6 races missed due to capsize/boat damage
- First team to hit fity knots!
- First team to capsize an F50!!
Breakdown of race results:
- 1st place x 1
- 2nd places x 3
- 3rd places x 6
- 4th places x 6
- 5th places x 1
- 6th places x 2