ROCKWOOL France Sail Grand Prix Day 1: Fletcher flies high on turbulent first day
by SailGP 12 Sep 2025 17:26 BST
12-13 September 2025
Emirates Great Britain SailGP Team helmed by Dylan Fletcher race closely with New Zealand SailGP Team helmed by Peter Burling and Canada NorthStar SailGP Team helmed by Giles Scott on Race Day 1 of the ROCKWOOL France Sail Grand Prix © Jonathan Nackstrand for SailGP
Day one of the ROCKWOOL France Sail Grand Prix went the way of Emirates Great Britain SailGP Team as they topped the event leaderboard after the first four fleet races of the weekend in Saint-Tropez.
The fleet exploded into action in front of a sell-out crowd, as the famed Mistral breeze delivered challenging and chaotic conditions for the world's best. With the sea state kicking up and gusts playing havoc across the racecourse, all twelve international teams - competing on 18-meter wingsails and high-speed rudders and foils - were forced to dig deep in a day marked by dramatic comebacks, start-line chaos, and four different race winners across the day's four fleet races.
Continuing his Sassnitz form, Emirates GBR's Dylan Fletcher surprised himself with his own performance: "It was very shifty - quite an interesting one to come out on top, as I'm not sure we had the best day out there," he said. "We had plenty of wild moments but when you're powered up on those wings and it's shifty in Saint-Tropez - it doesn't get any better!"
Red Bull Italy were welcomed to the winners' circle for the first time since their SailGP inception, as the newest team in the fleet cinched victory in the third fleet race of the day, bouncing back from a disappointing first race which forced the team to retire with onboard issues shortly after the startline.
Driver Ruggero Tita, enthused: "We are super happy. The team did a great job - we can be proud of what we achieved in that race, even if we didn't have an amazing day overall." Tita continued, "Unfortunately in the first race we had a technical issue, but then we slowly climbed up and had some good moments. It's really amazing here to be racing with this Mistral, and on this water."
Even for the league's top teams, consistency proved elusive - nowhere more evident than in the performance of Tom Slingsby's BONDS Flying Roos who stormed to victory in the first fleet race of the day, but dropped to 11th place in the second. This was mirrored by NorthStar Canada leading the second race the entire way until the Black Foils stole the finish - only to end up 11th in race three.
The final race of the day saw all twelve boats back on the water, Germany lit up the speed gun at 97 km/h, and France stirred the start line with some last minute maneuvers from Quentin Delapierre, before Emirates GBR, flying at 100% flight time, emerged victorious.
Reflecting on the startline that saw Les Bleus cut right across the path of the fleet, home-team driver Delapierre said: "That last start was strange - the whole fleet was expecting a nice left shift and it was the exact opposite - fully right. So it was a big mess - really, the whole day was like this! A bit out of place all day - not a disaster but we might need to regroup for tomorrow."
Off the water, the opening day of the ROCKWOOL France Sail Grand Prix was complete with a star-studded shoreline, including a visit from Formula 1 driver Valtteri Bottas, who took a spin on the ROCKWOOL Racing's F50 catamaran, joining Nicolai Sehested for the fastest sixth sailor experience in SailGP history.
Bottas - who also holds the highest recorded speed in a Formula 1 race - said, "That was intense! I definitely have even more respect for these guys now - everything just happens so quickly!" Asked how his on-water drag race compared to the asphalt, Bottas said, "You really listen to the comms; the team communication seems to be the key - they work really synchronised."
SailGP returns to the Côte d'Azur tomorrow, Saturday September 13, with three further fleet races before the winner-takes-all, three-boat Final. Racing begins at 12.30pm CEST - live on Canal+ Sport. Find out more at SailGP.com/Watch.