“Big Ben” wins in Saint-Tropez

SAINT-TROPEZ – 10th September 2023 – The English take the crown on the Côte d’Azur at the end of a Spanish-British-Australian final that is unprecedented on SailGP. Ben Ainslie and his team managed to win on the wire by overtaking the Australians at the end of the final close-hauled leg, thanks to a strategic return followed by an attack in true match racing style. Despite a promising first day, the French were disappointed to miss out and finish 6th in this third Grand Prix of SailGP Season 4.

It was a tense and bitter Sunday between the seven teams (out of ten), including the French, who were vying for a place in the final, in the unfortunate absence of the New Zealanders, who have been without a wing since the incident the day before. So the calculators ran hot and cold over the two heats in an attempt to identify the finalist candidates.
 
At the end of race 4, the Danes, English, Australians and Spaniards were in the best positions. These four protagonists fought it out in a final close battle. To the detriment of the Danes, who were to lose everything as they approached the finish line.
 
The misfortune of Nicolai Sehested and his team – who have been at the top of their game since the hostilities kicked off in Saint-Tropez – is going to make the Iberians very happy. Competing in their second final in a row, 49er champions Diego Botin and Florian Trittel are proving that their recent victory in Los Angeles was no hold-up, but rather the sign of a solid rise to power.
 
Ben Ainslie returns to the top step of the podium, a place he hasn’t occupied since the launch of Season 2!
 
Not prophets in their own country

Hot on their heels, just two points behind the leaders, Quentin Delapierre and his group unfortunately missed out on their final day. Very comfortable on the start line the day before, they failed to reproduce the pattern and completed two races at the back of the pack. To top it all off, a battery overheating problem caused a blackout on board the boat during the last race. Disappointed but not downhearted, Les Bleus saved the day by finishing 6th.

A successful third Tropezian edition

As usual, Saint-Tropez provided an idyllic setting for the France Sail Grand Prix. The sun and the public were out in force, allowing the magic to work for the third year running. The new grandstand system – which was sold out on the eve of the opening of the SailGP Race Stadium, as were all the ticket sales – was a great success with spectators, who were able to experience the races even more intensely from land. The very famous and festive SailGP X Nikki Beach was also a unanimous success, setting the international public alight. At sea, over 400 boats were able to take advantage of the exceptional summer conditions to watch the races as close as possible to the course and the action.

228 young people at the heart of SailGP in Saint-Tropez 

Throughout the week, 192 children from Saint-Tropez had the opportunity to visit the SailGP technical base, discover the circuit, find out how the F50s work and meet the athletes. 10 young girls and 10 young boys from all over France were integrated into the 10 SailGP teams. A real springboard towards the professional world, this opportunity enables young people to build up their experience and create a network in the world of sailing. Since its creation in 2019, the Inspire Careers programme has enabled more than 20 young people to be hired on the SailGP circuit. Tropézien Thomas Couelle, who took part in the Inspire programme in 2022, has been hired in the branding team. Finally, 8 young boys and 8 young girls took part in the Inspire WASZP programme, a week of training and competition on foiling dinghies, a springboard for spotting the future generation of SailGP athletes. The winners of the French leg were Sweden’s Hanno Seifert (19) and France’s Maïlys Raduli (19). They will meet again in San Francisco to contest the final!

The next event will take place on 23 and 24 September in Taranto, Italy, for the 4th instalment of the season.
 
They said:
 
Quentin Delapierre, driver of the French F50 : « We’re very disappointed and I’m angry with myself because I wasn’t good. That’s part of the high level, and on SailGP, we repeat it after each event, but it’s a fact, the fleet is getting denser and denser, tighter and tighter. As soon as you’re a little less comfortable, you pay for it in cash. Today, the wind was very changeable and I wasn’t inspired, the choices I made weren’t good and the quality of the starts wasn’t the same as yesterday. Yesterday I was precise, but today I was less so. Personally, I’m in a period where my confidence needs to come back. It’s up to me to get through this period and get back to the front of the fleet. I’m convinced that the Quentin of Season 3 is still there! But I’ve got some work ahead of me. We’re eating our heart out here, but we’ve still managed to limit the damage (6th). That keeps us within striking distance of the other teams. I know that our team is working well, that it’s still in a good frame of mind and that it’s very hungry to perform. We just need to get through this period of ‘less well”.
 
Ben Ainslie, driver of the British F50 : « We did a great job all weekend. We’re all the happier because we’re coming out of a frustrating period with the team. It’s always very close in a final, and in this case we were the three boats at full throttle with a duel on the start line with the Australians. They managed to take the lead, but we always stayed in contact and seized the opportunity to get the opposite side of the water (on the last upwind leg), which enabled us to come back on them, position ourselves to leeward of them and luff them up. That’s when we won the race. In these very irregular wind conditions, Hannah Mills (strategist, triple world champion and double Olympic 470 champion) is a huge asset for us. But also the rest of the group. It’s hard to explain just how tricky these boats are to handle. The guys up front (the grinders) have done a great job of keeping the energy up so we can trim the kite and get the flight control right. It was great teamwork.”

CLASSEMENT FRANCE SAIL GRAND PRIX I SAINT-TROPEZ 
 
1- GRANDE-BRETAGNE / Ben Ainslie (2-8-3-1-3-1)
2- AUSTRALIE / Tom Slingsby (5-1-8-5-1-2)
3- ESPAGNE / Diego Botin (6-4-7-2-2-3)
4- DANEMARK / Nicolai Sehested (3-7-2-4-6)
5- ÉTATS-UNIS / Jimmy Spithill (9-3-1-8-7)
6- FRANCE / Quentin Delapierre (8-2-4-9-9)
7- ALLEMAGNE/ Erik Heil (7-9-6-7-4)
8- NOUVELLE-ZÉLANDE / Peter Burling (1-6-5-10-10)
9- SUISSE / Sébastien Schneiter (4-10-10-6-5)
10- CANADA / Phil Robertson (10-5-9-3-8)

 CLASSEMENT SAISON 4 SAILGP APRÈS 3 ACTES 

1- AUSTRALIE / Tom Slingsby – 26 pts
2- ESPAGNE / Diego Botin – 24 pts
3- DANEMARK / Nicolai Sehested – 23 pts
4- GRANDE-BRETAGNE / Ben Ainslie – 19 pts
5- NOUVELLE-ZÉLANDE / Peter Burling – 17 pts
6- ÉTATS-UNIS / Jimmy Spithill – 14 pts
7- FRANCE / Quentin Delapierre – 13 pts
8- CANADA / Phil Robertson – 12 pts
9- SUISSE / Sébastien Schneiter – 7 pts
10- ALLEMAGNE/ Erik Heil – 4 pts