Australia SailGP Team ready to go for gold in Italy
by Australia SailGP Team 23 Sep 2023 05:52 AEST
23-24 September 2023
ROCKWOOL Italy Sail Grand Prix | Taranto © Kat Morris
Ahead of this weekend's ROCKWOOL Italy Sail Grand Prix | Taranto, nine national teams will compete in the fourth event of Season 4 as the global league hit Taranto on Friday for practice racing.
It was an impressive day of practice racing for the Australia team with Driver and CEO Tom Slingsby and his team picking up a 1-6-2 fleet race record across the three practice races, which saw multiple teams suffer technical problems on the water.
Australia took advantage of the changing winds, navigating a challenging course to make some significant gains leaving the team in a strong position heading into Race Day 1 tomorrow, fighting off tough competition from France, ROCKWOOL Denmark and Canada teams who also performed well on the course throughout the three races in a hotly contested practice day.
Confidence is high in Tom Slingsby's Australia team going into the weekend after a series of strong results in the previous three events, with the team hoping to secure its first win of Season 4 in Taranto. The Flying Roos are also looking forward to welcoming strategist Nina Curtis back on board for her first race since the birth of her daughter, Dylan in June.
Australia has been in the three-boat Final at all three of the Season 4 events so far and currently sits on top of the overall SailGP rankings going into this weekend.
With more south-easterly winds and gusts of around 25-35 kp/h expected tomorrow, the scene is set for an exhilarating day of racing. Teams will be using the knowledge gained from today's practice races to inform their strategies to take those all important points on the first official day of racing to take them through to the final on Sunday.
The ROCKWOOL Italy Sail Grand Prix will be without a tenth team - Peter Burling's New Zealand - who will miss the event following serious damage to its wing sail sustained during the France Sail Grand Prix in Saint-Tropez earlier this month.
The ROCKWOOL Italy Sail Grand Prix | Taranto takes place on Saturday and Sunday 23-24 September with two days of racing on Taranto. To catch all the action on the water over the weekend, tune in to 7+, 7mate, Kayo Sports or Fox Sports from 9.30pm -11pm AEST on both racing days - to find out more, go to SailGP.com/Watch.