U.S. SailGP Team contains fallout, keeps overall championship in play during Denmark event
by US SailGP Team 21 Aug 2021 18:14 BST
20-22 August 2021
Day 2 of the ROCKWOOL Denmark Sail Grand Prix © Jonathon Nackstrand for SailGP
The United States SailGP Team succeeded in staying within striking distance of the SailGP overall championship today, containing the loss of Wing Trimmer Paul Campbell-James to injury at ROCKWOOL Denmark Sail Grand Prix.
Entering the Danish event in fourth place, the American team brought on newcomer Jason Saunders as Interim Wing Trimmer after Campbell-James sustained a broken leg the day prior to racing.
A race win by the U.S. SailGP Team on the first day - punctuated by a standout performance by Saunders - proved crucial to maintaining control of the team's overall standings as light winds presented unpredictable racing in today's final qualifying races.
Racing with only three crew members onboard due to the conditions, the complexity increased for Driver Jimmy Spithill and Pilot Rome Kirby who, along with Saunders, worked as hard as possible to mitigate the team's position in the fleet.
The team finished qualifying just one point shy of the event podium final but successfully defended their fourth place standing overall.
Spithill: "Jason did a great job. He was thrown in the deep end with very dynamic and random conditions and so we were just trying to keep our heads above water. To be honest, we're happy to walk out of here and able to salvage fourth place."
The Danish event was not so kind to the rest of the fleet with four of the league's eight teams exchanging overall positions with the Australian, British, and now Japanese teams rounding out the top three positions.
According to SailGP rules only the top three overall teams at the end of the season are allowed to compete for the $1 million prize at the championship's "Grand Final" race, held this season at the United States Sail Grand Prix | San Francisco, March 26 & 27, 2022.
Spithill now looks towards defining the team's strategy for the next event, the France Sail Grand Prix | Saint Tropez, in three weeks' time, noting Campbell-James will still be sidelined.
For more information on the full Season 2 calendar as well as the US SailGP Team visit sailgp.com
SailGP Season 2 - Current Overall Rankings:
1. Australia SailGP Team (Tom Slingsby) - 32 pts
2. Great Britain SailGP Team (Ben Ainslie) - 30 pts
3. Japan SailGP Team (Nathan Outerridge) - 28 pts
4. United States SailGP Team (Jimmy Spithill) - 26 pts
5. France SailGP Team (Billy Besson) - 24 pts
6. Spain SailGP Team (Phil Robertson) - 23 pts
7. New Zealand SailGP Team (Peter Burling) - 23 pts
8. Denmark SailGP Team (Nicolai Sehested) - 22 pts