Tom Slingsby brought BONDS Flying Roos SailGP team home winners of the eventful ITM New Zealand Sail Grand Prix in Auckland.
The Australian outfit bested Emirates GBR and Los Gallos in a winner-takes-all battle of the champions in feisty conditions.
Day 2 of the Auckland Grand Prix was held in a split-fleet format, following the day 1 collision between the Black Foils and DS Team France in Race 3, which resulted in two crew members being hospitalised and two boats wrecked.
This second dangerous collision incident in only the second event of the 2026 season was a strong warning flag that could not be ignored any longer.
Although only 11 F50 took part (down from 13) SailGP organisers played safe with the split-fleet format for the fleet racing.
The Final was between Diego Botin Los Gallos Spain, Tom Slingsby’s BONDS Flying Roos Australia and Dylan Fletcher Emirates GBR
Spain lead from the start to the first mark followed by Australia and Britain. This remained the same at gate 2, Spain with a 01:16 lead.
At this point Slingsby split away to left side, followed by Spain, with the Brits tacking late to briefly toke the lead. Australia then took a narrow lead from Spain going into gate 3 and maintained the lead ahead of Spain at gate 4.
Dylan Fletcher split away from the two leaders at gate 4 to try and gain some pace, but at the cross they still trailed Australia and Spain.
Australia then stretched their lead to 6 sec on leg 5, rounding the final mark with Britain slipping round in second.
Australia’s BONDS Flying Roos crossed the Finish with a 14 sec lead from Emirates GB, with Spain’s Los Gallos third.
Rolex SailGP Championship 2026 after two Events
SailGP fans don’t have long to wait for the action to resume – the next event, the KPMG Sydney Sail Grand Prix, is on 28 February – 1 March.
