Dylan Fletcher has driven the Emirates Great Britain SailGP Team to third place on Race Day 1 in Dubai. It was Fletcher's first time racing in the Driver role for Ben Ainslie's British team, with the crew securing a result of 5-8-2 in the three fleet races on Saturday.
This takes the crew to third on the leaderboard, behind New Zealand in second and Australia in first. Two more fleet races will take place on Sunday before the top three teams progress to the final podium race to decide the winner of the Emirates Dubai Sail Grand Prix presented by P&O Marinas.
Speaking after the three races on day one, Fletcher, Driver of Emirates GBR, said: "It was a good first day for us and it's great to be in the mix going into tomorrow. It was quite tricky out there for me and I made some schoolboy errors in the starts of the first two races, but I felt like once we were over the start line we were overtaking boats nicely, which bodes well for the rest of the season. The team did a great job out there, especially keeping me in check and helping me out. We know we've got to take each race as it comes and we kept fighting and kept digging out there and managed to get in a strong position for tomorrow."
Emirates GBR Strategist Hannah Mills said: "It was pretty tight racing and the fleet was super compact out there. There were gains and losses all over the course, it was a real game of snakes and ladders. We were using the 29m wing, which is the biggest, and it was the first time for Dylan. It feels pretty different with the bigger wing as it's much heavier so it was good to get used to that. It was a strong end to the day with a second place finish and the main thing is we are in the hunt tomorrow."
It's all to race for on day two of the Emirates Dubai Sail Grand Prix presented by P&O Marinas, with all teams hoping to end the debut event of the Rolex SailGP Championship's 2025 Season on a high. Racing resumes on Sunday and UK viewers can follow all the action live on TNT Sports from 10:00 GMT.
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