The second day of racing at the inaugural Rolex Sail Grand Prix in Geneva proved a frustrating one for Emirates GBR. The team finished tenth and seventh in the day's two races. Despite the results, the team ended the event in fourth place and remains second in the season's overall standings, firmly in the fight for the championship.
Emirates GBR driver Dylan Fletcher said: "Super-light and tricky conditions out there, and we didn't have the best day. But, you know, there are still positives, that fourth place finish moves us up the leaderboard.
There was also an element of frustration, it's clear in the SailGP rules that cycling the boards is not permitted and so it's quite unusual that teams were getting warnings for cycling the boards rather than actual penalties. We'll definitely need more clarity from the umpires, because we felt like those teams made big gains in a critical race situation.
Coming into this weekend, we knew things would be challenging given the lottery of the weather. So to come out fourth and end up one point closer to the lead in this series, that's a good result."
In the Podium Final, the home team, Switzerland, narrowly missed a perfect start by going slightly early over the line, resulting in a penalty that forced them behind Germany and Australia. It then came down to which team could keep foiling. Germany executed brilliantly to claim their first event win of the season.
Looking ahead, Emirates GBR head into the Spain Sail Grand Prix in Cádiz still in second place overall with 75 points — just one point behind Australia and two ahead of New Zealand. With the season nearing its climax, every race, every start, and every penalty will count even more.
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