Australia Team miss out on podium as Jimmy Spithill takes home first ever SailGP victory
by Olivia Hogan / Australia SailGP Team 12 Sep 2022 04:41 NZST
10-11 September 2022
The fleet in action on Race Day 2 of the Range Rover France Sail Grand Prix in Saint Tropez, France © Andrew Baker for SailGP
"We went from survival mode yesterday to hunting the wind today"
Tom Slingsby and The Australia SailGP Team could not orchestrate a comeback on the final race day of the Range Rover France Sail Grand Prix, with Jimmy Spithill's United States Team securing their first ever SailGP victory on the French Riviera.
It was an incredibly light-wind day which drastically contrasted the crazy conditions of race day one and saw team's battling to find any wind to gain an advantage in racing.
Tom Slingsby said: "You couldn't have seen more contrasting race days than what we saw here in St Tropez. We went from survival mode yesterday to looking for tiny puffs of wind today."
Due to the lack of breeze on the Gulf of Saint-Tropez there were major changes to the race schedule, with Slingsby's team only having one fleet race to drum up enough points to secure a seat in the podium final. The fifth fleet race was terminated - due to no one crossing the finish line inside the 14-minute race window - and the sixth fleet race - added from this event onwards to introduce SailGP 'Super Sundays' - cancelled entirely.
As a result, United States, Great Britain and New Zealand secured their spot in the podium final, with fellow Australian and United States Driver Jimmy Spithill taking the lead to secure his first SailGP victory.
Despite the Australian's overall fifth place in St Tropez, the team is still sitting in at number one in the overall SailGP Season 3 leaderboard, with a one point difference to Burling's New Zealand Team, who are coming in second place.
Commenting on the team's overall performance, Slingsby said: "It's no secret that we are a team driven by confidence. When we are high on confidence we are a hard team to beat. We are a little down on confidence at the minute and we aren't sailing as well as what we have. We need to correct that and get back to our winning, confident mindset."
Wasting no time, Slingsby and his crew will now review the race data and prepare for the Spain Sail Grand Prix, taking place in Cadiz on September 24 and 25.
The Australian Team's results across the weekend also converted into driving real impact to help protect the ocean, through its innovative partnership with WLTH. WLTH has committed to funding the Australian team's official Race For The Future partner Parley for the Ocean in beach and ocean cleaning, with the level of commitment amplifying based on the Australian team performance. Based on WLTH's commitment, Australia's performance at the Range Rover FranceSail Grand Prix in St Tropez equated to 800 metres squared of beach and coastline to be cleaned up by Parley for the Oceans - a phenomenal contribution.
Range Rover France Sail Grand Prix | Saint Tropez - Final Standings:
1. United States SailGP Team- 10 points
2. New Zealand SailGP Team- 9 points
3. Great Britain SailGP Team- 8 points
4. France SailGP Team- 7 points
5. Australia SailGP Team- 6 points
6. Denmark SailGP Team- 5 points
7. Spain SailGP Team- 4 points
8. Switzerland SailGP Team- 3 points
9. Canada SailGP Team- 2 points
Overall Season 3 Leaderboard:
1. Australia SailGP Team- 42 points
2. New Zealand SailGP Team- 41 points
3. Great Britain SailGP Team- 34 points
4. Denmark SailGP Team- 33 points
5. France SailGP Team- 31 points
6. Canada SailGP Team- 29 points
7. United States SailGP Team- 25 points
8. Spain SailGP Team- 15 points
9. Switzerland SailGP Team- 12 points
SailGP Season 3 Schedule // 2022-2023
2022
May 14-15 Bermuda Sail Grand Prix presented by Hamilton Princess
June 18-19 T-Mobile United States Sail Grand Prix | Chicago at Navy Pier
July 30-31 Great Britain Sail Grand Prix | Plymouth
August 19-20 ROCKWOOL Denmark Sail Grand Prix | Copenhagen
September 10-11 France Sail Grand Prix | Saint-Tropez
September 24-25 Spain Sail Grand Prix | Andalucía - Cádiz
November 12-13 Dubai Sail Grand Prix presented by P&O Marinas
2023
January 14-15 Singapore Sail Grand Prix
February 18-19 Australia Sail Grand Prix I Sydney
March 18-19 New Zealand Sail Grand Prix | Christchurch
May 6-7 United States Sail Grand Prix | San Francisco (Season 3 Grand Final)