Brutal Sunday setback fuels Aussies as Grand Final race tightens
by BONDS Flying Roos 6 Oct 07:44 AEDT
4-5 October 2025
Switzerland SailGP Team and BONDS Flying Roos SailGP Team race behind USA SailGP Team and France SailGP Team on Race Day 2 of the DP World Spain Sail Grand Prix held in Cadiz © Jason Ludlow for SailGP
The pressure is mounting on Tom Slingsby and his BONDS Flying Roos after a hard-fought campaign in Cadiz tightened the race for a place in next month’s US$2M winner-takes-all Grand Final.
Super Sunday at the DP World Spain Sail Grand Prix delivered mixed fortunes for the BONDS Flying Roos which saw them slip from first to third in the 2025 Season standings. The three-time Champions Australia suffered costly setbacks across the day and now face fierce pressure from the home-team rivals Los Gallos as the 2025 Rolex SailGP Championship heads into its final event of the season.
The Australians opened day two in trademark form, nailing their start in Race Five and leading the 12-strong fleet before eventually crossing the line in third. Umpires were active again on Sunday, issuing eight penalties over the course of three races taking the Cadiz total to 26 – equalling the SailGP season record at a single event.
Race Six proved more of a grind with the Aussies starting at the back of the pack, the team fought through the traffic to climb as high as sixth before losing positions in the closing stages to finish eighth. The momentum stalled again in Race Seven, when a boundary infringement combined with a late entry to the start line left Slingsby’s crew penalised, on the back foot and scrambling to recover.
Emirates Great Britain went on to claim victory in the Podium Final against New Zealand (2nd) and Germany (3rd).
Reflecting on his team’s performance, BONDS Flying Roos Driver, CEO and Co-owner Tom Slingsby said, “We’re still in the hunt for the Grand Final. It was a tough event today, really bumpy and tricky, and we just didn’t sail at our best. It’s unfortunate and I’ll dwell on it for a while but I’ve got six weeks to learn from this.”
“It was tough to go from two 1sts and a 2nd in practice racing to battling for 9th and 10th all weekend. We’ll pick up the lessons and move on. We can’t just focus on the three-boat Final like the Brits or Kiwis probably can — we need to think about different fleet-racing scenarios for Abu Dhabi. There’ll be a few ‘what if’ scenarios for us to plan for,” he said.
Slingsby added, “We’ll do whatever we have to do to make that Grand Final. If it means going after Spain, we’ll go after them. If it means just monitoring from afar and focusing on our own results, we’ll do that.”
The result sees Slingsby’s crew drop to third in the overall season standings on 80 points, behind the Black Foils (82 points) and Great Britain (85 points).
With crucial season points banked in Cadiz, the BONDS Flying Roos have their sights firmly set on securing their seat in the Abu Dhabi Grand Final and reclaiming the Championship Trophy on 28-29 November.