After three races at Sydney SailGP, Ben Ainslie and the Great Britain SailGP Team top the leaderboard with 3 race wins.
The British team top the leaderboard after day 1 with 30 points. In second place is the Japan team of Nathen Outteridge tied on 23 points with the Australian team of Tom Slingsby.
With Ainslie dominating the fleet racing, it was the new Spanish team of Phil Robertson that suprised the regular teams, taking second in races 2 and 3.
Tom Slingsby and the Australian team, 2019 Champions, started well taking second behind the Brits in the opening race, but then dropping back with third and fourth places.
Following racing, Ainslie said: “You can’t really ask for better conditions than that, 15-20 knots, southerly on Sydney Harbour. It was a real challenge for all the teams because the wind was so shifty which meant a lot of difficult manoeuvres needed to be executed. But I think our team did a great job, the guys on the boat were fantastic and we’re delighted with three wins.”
Communication on these high-speed foiling catamarans is crucial on a day like today with gusty and variable wind conditions.
Ainslie with experienced SailGP athletes Iain Jensen on the wing and Luke Parkinson on flight controls, proved he indeed has a strong team behind him and this could make all the difference when it comes to getting into the match race final on Saturday.
SailGP Sydney 2020 Leaderboard – Day 1 after 3 races
1st Great Britain – – Ben Ainslie 10 10 10 – – 30 pts
2nd Japan – – Nathan Outteridge 8 7 8 – – 23 pts
3rd Australia – – Tom Slingsby 9 8 6 – – 23 pts
4th United States – – Rome Kirby 7 5 7 – – 19 pts
5th Spain – – Phil Robertson 6 9 9 – – 15 pts
6th Denmark – – Nicolai Sehested 4 6 5 – – 13 pts
7th France – – Billy Besson 5 0 0 – – 5 pts
Note:
1. The Spain SailGP Team have been penalized nine points from the overall Sydney leaderboard due to a rule infringement during a fleet race at Sydney SailGP, where there was contact between them and the France SailGP Team.
2. The Denamrk SailGP Team have been penalized two points from the overall Sydney leaderboard due to a rule infringement during a fleet race race at Sydney SailGP.