SailGP has officially arrived in Sydney as all nine F50s hit the water for final practice ahead of the ninth event of what's been an entertaining Season 3 so far. With conditions predicted to produce high-speed racing this weekend, fans are in for a treat at the KPMG Australia Sail Grand Prix | Sydney.
Only the ITM New Zealand Grand Prix | Christchurch on March 18-19 and the Season 3 Grand Final in San Francisco remain on the season schedule, so events in Sydney will go a long way to determining who'll be battling for the top prize on San Francisco Bay on May 6-7.
Much of the focus of this week's build up has been on the Australia SailGP Team, led by Tom Slingsby, which holds a commanding lead in the championship standings and will be aiming to replicate last year's thrilling victory on home waters.
Speaking at the official pre-event press conference in the middle of the event site in Barangaroo, Sydney, Slingsby assured locals that his team wasn't resting on its laurels, despite their enviable position on top of the leaderboard.
Burling's in-form New Zealand team is entering the weekend in second position, nine points behind Slingsby's Australia, and the Kiwi driver expressed his excitement to get out on the water and take on the Aussies, while also thinking of those affected by extreme weather back home.
A further five points adrift of the New Zealand team in third is the Emirates Great Britain SailGP Team, led by Sir Ben Ainslie, who was in a justifiably buoyant mood at the press conference, boasting a strong personal racing record in Sydney and celebrating Emirates becoming the team's first-ever Title Sponsor on a three-year deal earlier this week.
SAILGP SEASON 3 CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS (after eight events)
1 // Australia // 68 points
2 // New Zealand // 59 points
3 // Great Britain // 54 points
4 // France // 53 points
5 // Denmark // 51 points
6 // Canada // 45 points
7 // United States // 43 points
8 // Spain // 24 points
9 // Switzerland // 23 points
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