The Taranto SailGP event was a difficult introduction to F50 racing for the British team’s stand-in helm, Paul Goodison, with tricky, light conditions forcing the teams to reduce to just three crew.
In the end it was the Japan SailGP Team, driven by Nathan Outteridge, who took victory at the Taranto SailGP event after the USA SailGP Team broke their rudder at the final downwind gate in the final, winner-takes-all podium race.
The British SailGP team failed to make the final race-off and finished the Italian Sail Grand Prix in sixth place.
This dropped them one place to second behind Spain in the overall League standings after the first two events of the season.
After his first event at the wheel of an F50, Goodison, who is substituting for Ben Ainslie for the Taranto and Plymouth events, was positive, looking forward to the team’s home event in Plymouth next month . . .
“Next up is Plymouth and we are really looking forward to it, you can’t beat racing on home waters with the crowd cheering. We hope it brings more breeze than the typical Mediterranean conditions we have had here in Italy.”
“I wanted to help the team put on much better show and that’s disappointing, but we can take a lot away. Our motto this week has been ‘let’s get better every day’ and we feel have done that.”
SailGP Season 2 will resume in the Great Britain Sail Grand Prix in Plymouth on 17 and 18 July 2021.
A limited number of tickets are now available at https://sailgp.com/GreatBritain.
Additional tickets will be released in line with the Government Covid updates.
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