Fairytale win for France in SailGP Germany debut
by SailGP 17 Aug 18:59 BST
In a stunning weekend comeback, the France SailGP Team claimed their first event win of the 2025 Season - bouncing back from near-disaster in practice to beat the BONDS Flying Roos and Emirates GBR in an action-packed winner-takes-all Final.
In a victory driver Quentin Delapierre called, "super special" Les Bleus move into fifth on the Rolex SailGP Championship standings, while Emirates GBR jockeys into third ahead of Spain, now fourth. Australia and New Zealand sit first and second, respectively, tied on points with 61 each.
Celebrating the win, Delapierre - who began the weekend in hospital after the team's rudder broke in practice - said: "We knew we had to deliver our best performance this weekend - with focus on tact, strategy and, yeah, a bit of luck." It was not the first high-stakes incident for the French crew, who also missed out on last month's Emirates Great Britain Sail Grand Prix when the team's wingsail snapped just moments before racing.
Delapierre continued, "This win was super special - for the CEOs, our management, partners and the athletes of course. As I said at the press conference, it's been a while since we won an event at SailGP. It's always a special feeling." France, who last topped the event podium in Season 3, is now the sixth team to win an event this season.
Competing in their first event Final since March (Los Angeles), Australian driver Tom Slingsby had a dominant weekend, finishing top three in all but one race. Slingsby said: "Since the wing collapsed in San Francisco, we feel like we haven't been able to get back in there, so this weekend, we're really glad with how we sailed. A big thanks to Sassnitz and Germany for putting it on."
Emirates GBR also showed grit and resilience, dominating with back-to-back wins in fleet races 5 and 6 less than 24 hours after a shocking collision appeared to put the team's weekend in the balance. Thanking on-shore teams for the overnight repair, driver Dylan Fletcher said: "You wouldn't believe it - an absolutely unbelievable effort to ensure our team could race today, so this really goes out to them."
The conditions on Championship Sunday marked a notable change from the fast and furious racing on day one in Sassnitz. Light, shifty breeze called for tactical racing, in which teams unafraid to take risks were rewarded with strategic gains across the course. Those left in the back found themselves struggling in disturbed air.
Despite missing out on his first home final, driver Erik Kosegarten-Heil said he was pleased with the Germany SailGP, presented by Deutsche Bank, team's weekend results - a fifth overall. "For sure the event gives us some confidence," he said. "We worked really hard on many things here, between events and, really, all year. It's nice to see some things turn around slowly and I'm really looking forward to the next couple of events."
Across the weekend, more than 13,000 fans came out to watch SailGP's Sassnitz debut, which was streamed live on national broadcaster ZDF. Earlier in the weekend, the league confirmed a three-season commitment to racing in Germany through to 2027.
With only three stops to go until the Rolex Championship's Grand Final in Abu Dhabi, all attention turns to next month's European double-header in Saint-Tropez (September 12-13) and Geneva (September 20-21).
sailgp.com
Sassnitz leaderboard:
1. France 10pts
2. Bonds Flying Roos 9pts
3. Emirates GBR 8pts
4. Black Foils 7pts
5. GET Deutsche Bank 6pts
6. Los Gallos 5pts
7. Rockwool Racing 4pts
8. Northstar 3pts
9. Switzerland 2pts
10. Red Bull Italy 1pts
11. United States 0pts
12. Mubadala Brazil 0pts
2025 Season Leaderboard:
1. Bonds Flying Roos 61 pts
2. Black Foils 61pts
3. Emirates GBR 58pts
4. Los Gallos 56pts
5. France 47pts
6. Northstar 44pts
7. Swizerland 30pts
8. Rockwool Racing 22pts
9. Red Bull Italy 20pts
10. Mubadala Brazil 11pts
11. GET Deutsche Bank 6pts
12. United States -8pts