The Emirates Great Britain SailGP Team recorded its fastest ever speed on Race Day 1 of the ROCKWOOL Germany Sail Grand Prix in Sassnitz on Saturday. The British F50 reached 104.7km/h during practice laps, and became the new SailGP speed record holders – until DS Automobiles Team France hit a new milestone of 107.63km/h during racing.
Emirates GBR Wing Trimmer Stuart Bithell MBE described the conditions on the Baltic Sea as “hectic”, with gusts of up to 50km/h aiding the multiple speed records.
“It was windy, gusty and we hit 104.7km/h which is the fastest we’ve ever done. It’s very similar conditions tomorrow, maybe even a fraction windier, so it could be fruity tomorrow – but we’ll be ready.” Bithell said.
The 13 teams were split into two groups for racing, with Spain, Switzerland, New Zealand, France, Denmark, Italy and Brazil forming Group A, while Emirates GBR was in Group B alongside Sweden, Canada, USA, Australia and Germany. There were three races for each group on Saturday, with Emirates GBR placing 5th, 2nd and 4th in their races.
The Brits faced difficult starts, but made impressive gains on the course in the second race to take them from 5th at the start to 2nd at the finish. The third race saw all teams battling for positions on the course, apart from the home team Germany who secured a bullet after nailing the start and delighting the thousands of fans that packed the grandstand on the shoreline with a race win.
With only three points separating Emirates GBR in fourth to Australia’s BONDS Flying Roos in first, there are plenty of opportunities for the Brits to climb up the leaderboard on Sunday from their current fourth place.
Emirates GBR Driver Dylan Fletcher MBE said: “It was awesome conditions here in Sassnitz and although it’s not the exact results we wanted, we came away feeling pretty good about the day. The team was sailing well, we had some tricky starts but from there we were always punching forward and chipping away. It’s very tight on points, so we just need some solid races tomorrow to hopefully make it into that event final.”
© Felix Diemer for SailGP
Felix Diemer for SailGP
Discussing the team’s new speed record, Fletcher added: “It was great to see the speed record broken, I thought we might have it for a minute, but the French went and did one better in the last race, but I think there’s still plenty more left in the tank on this boat.”
Racing resumes on Sunday, with two races for each group, followed by the four-boat, winner-takes-all final. With the forecast for Sunday promising more breeze and flat water, there’s potential for another record-breaking race day and UK viewers can watch all the action live on TNT Sports 2 from 13:00 BST.