Emirates GBR hoping to repeat Saint-Tropez success in 'wild' ROCKWOOL France Sail Grand Prix

by Emirates GBR SailGP Team 11 Sep 2025 18:09 BST 12-13 September 2025

The Emirates Great Britain SailGP Team is hoping to repeat last season's success in Saint-Tropez at the ROCKWOOL France Sail Grand Prix this Friday and Saturday.

Emirates GBR was victorious at the last Saint-Tropez event in September 2023, back when the team's CEO Sir Ben Ainslie was at the wheel of the F50. This weekend's event will be the fourth time SailGP has visited iconic Saint-Tropez - and it's become known for being one of the fastest racecourses in the world. With practice racing cancelled on Thursday due to high wind, and with the Mistral, a strong wind that blows from the north to the Mediterranean in southern France, also forecast to arrive, Emirates GBR Driver Dylan Fletcher said it was going to be a "wild one" out on the Riviera.

"I've never raced in Saint-Tropez before and it's looking like quite a wild one with the Mistral coming which is exciting," Fletcher said.

"We're looking forward to getting back racing, this is the first of three events in quick succession and hopefully we can build on our performance in Portsmouth and Sassnitz. Last time SailGP was in Saint-Tropez, the team won with Ben Ainslie driving, so I've got some big shoes to fill here and hopefully we can repeat their success."

Saint-Tropez marks the first of three SailGP events in four weeks, with the Rolex Switzerland Sail Grand Prix taking place in Geneva next weekend, 20-21 September, followed by the DP World Spain Sail Grand Prix in Cadiz on 4-5 October. The ROCKWOOL France Sail Grand Prix this week will also be debut of SailGP's new rudders and automated foil protection software. Thinner and with a longer cord length, the new rudders are designed to provide greater control at high speed and better foiling performance at low speeds. The rudders will also raise the threshold for cavitation - which makes the boat more difficult to control with highly variable forces. Cavitation will now begin to occur when the F50 is moving in excess of 106 km/h (66mph) - a significant increase from the previous onset speed of 83 km/h (51mph) on the first-edition rudders.

Newly developed software will also provide an extra layer of protection for crews when managing extreme loads, experienced during high-speed maneuvers. The new software will identify when the F50 is sailing in a highly-loaded moment - such as on a reach at high speeds - and automatically put an additional positive angle of attack (rake) into the daggerboard (foil) during a maneuver to limit the amount of load on the boat.

Fletcher will be hoping to repeat the team's previous success on the Riviera this weekend, following a strong performance at the last two events in Portsmouth and Sassnitz, where they finished in second and third respectively. It was a miraculous turn of events for Emirates GBR to come away with a podium place in Sassnitz, after they suffered potentially event-ending damage when the USA SailGP Team crashed into them on the first day of racing. The Emirates GBR Shore Team and SailGP Tech Team worked through the night to repair the British F50 in time for race day two, and the result meant the Brits were able to climb a place on the Season leaderboard and once again enter the all-important top three.

Emirates GBR currently sits third on the Rolex SailGP Championship's 2025 Season leaderboard, but with points excruciatingly close, Saint-Tropez could make - or break - the chances of teams making the coveted Season Grand Final in Abu Dhabi in November.

Emirates GBR Strategist Hannah Mills said: "We're really excited to be back in Saint-Tropez, it's the most amazing, beautiful sailing venue and it looks like we're going to have some pretty epic conditions on Friday and Saturday. Last time we were here back in 2023 we had amazing success winning the event, so we'll be pushing hard to do well and get back on the podium, hopefully on the top spot. As a team we're really conscious that we're coming to the closing quarter of the season and it's really tight at the top of the leaderboard to make that Grand Final in November, so everyone's feeling excited and ready to go."

UK viewers can watch all the Riviera racing action live on TNT Sports from 12:30 BST on Friday and from 11:30 BST on Saturday.