This weekend (11-12 April) will see the fourth event of SailGP 2026: ENEL Rio Sail Grand Prix, Mubadala Brazil.
The event was supposed to happen last year, but it didn’t due to equipment issues. This has built a considerable anticipation ahead of this event, and puts a lot of pressure on Martine Grael who has sailed in Guanabara Bay since childhood.
Now, as SailGP’s first female driver, she’s bringing the world’s fastest sail racing to South America for the first time.
At the 2016 Rio Olympics, Grael and Kahena Kunze held off New Zealand by two seconds in the final race to win gold in the 49erFX class, setting off celebrations on Flamengo Beach that saw them carried ashore on their skiff by a crowd wading into the surf.
While the Black Foils will continue to sit-out the series, the France DS Automobiles F50 is now in Rio for final testing before this weekend’s Enel Rio Sail Grand Prix.
This time round the Kiwis will not be competing, they are waiting on a replacement hull currently in build at SailGP Technology in Southampton, UK. Once completed it will be transported to either Bermuda (10 – 11 May), or more likely New York for the team to complete testing ahead of the Mubadala New York Sail GP (31 May – 1 June).
A clearer picture for the Black Foils’ return will be able to be confirmed post the Rio event.
After Rio the next Rolex SailGP Championship stops are in Bermuda (10 – 11 May), New York (31 May – 1 June) and Halifax (21 – 22 June) before the league moves across the Atlantic to Portsmouth UK (26-27 July) for the start of the European leg of the season.
Emirates GBR Team Crew for Rio
Driver: Dylan Fletcher
Wing Trimmer: Stuart Bithell
Flight Controller: Luke Parkinson
Grinder: Nick Hutton
Grinder: Neil Hunter
Strategist: Hannah Mills
Reserve strategist: Eleanor Aldridge
Data analyst: Nick Robinson
Data analyst: Ben Cornish
Coach: Robbie Wilson
Season 2026 Results (after 3 of 13 events)
1. Great Britain, Dylan Fletcher (GBR), 1-2-2 – – 28 pts
2. Australia, Tom Slingsby (AUS), 2-1-5 – – 25 pts
3. United States, Taylor Canfield (USA), 5-7-1 – – 20 pts
4. France, Quentin Delapierre (FRA), 3-4-13* – – 20 pts
5. Spain, Diego Botin (ESP), 12-3-3 – – 16 pts – – 16 pts
6. Artemis, Nathan Outteridge (AUS), 4-5-9 – – 15 pts
7. Italy, Phil Robertson (NZL), 7-13-4 – – 11 pts
8. Denmark, Nicolai Sehested (DEN), 8-9-6 – – 11 pts
9. Germany, Erik Heil (GER), 9-6-8 – – 10 pts
10. Canada, Giles Scott (CAN/GBR), 6-10-11 – – 6 pts
11. Brazil, Martine Grael (BRA), 10-11-7 – – 5 pts
12. New Zealand, Peter Burling (NZL), 13-8-12 – – 2 pts
13. Switzerland, Sébastien Schneiter (SUI), 11-12-10 – – 1pts
* Received compensation points for Sydney due to boat damage in Event 2.