Emirates GBR crowned SailGP's 2025 Season Champions after beating Australia and New Zealand
by Emirates GBR SailGP Team 1 Dec 2025 02:01 AEDT
29-30 November 2025
Emirates Great Britain SailGP Team, lift the SailGP Championship trophy Race Day 2 of the Mubadala Abu Dhabi Sail Grand Prix Season Grand Final - November 30, 2025 © Andrew Baker/SailGP
The Emirates Great Britain SailGP Team has won the 2025 Season Championship after beating Australia and New Zealand in a thrilling $2m Grand Final race in Abu Dhabi.
Emirates GBR fended off stiff competition from the Aussies and Kiwis, in a race that was gripping until the very end. Each of the three teams had the lead at points in the single, winner-takes-all race, but Emirates GBR managed to claw back from third place to overhaul Australia’s BONDS Flying Roos and New Zealand’s Black Foils on the fourth leg of the final shootout.
Emirates GBR’s victory marks the first time the Brits have won a SailGP Grand Final, and the team is also the first in history to do the treble and complete a clean sweep, winning the 2025 Season Grand Final, the Impact League and topping the season standings on points. This means the team won $2m for the Grand Final race, $400,000 for the season points and then $57,000 for its Purpose Partner the 1851 Trust for its Impact League wins this season.
Emirates GBR Driver Dylan Fletcher said: “It was an unbelievable final and an unbelievable season for the team. We had some ups and downs but we dug deep and finished off the season with the treble, winning the Grand Final, the overall season on points and the Impact League. I think the Grand Final race is an incredible testament to how the team operates, we stayed calm, kept chipping away and then took the opportunity when it got presented to us. What a team, what a year… I’m stoked.”
Emirates GBR CEO Sir Ben Ainslie said: “I’m so proud of this team. On and off the water this season, the team has just delivered and this is such a great day. The racing at this level we know is incredibly tight but they really deserved it. It was a classic final, the Aussies had the lead off the line but we made some really smart choices which won us the race. It’s a serious achievement.”
Emirates GBR Strategist Hannah Mills described the Grand Final race as “wild and tense”.
She said: “We knew it was going to come down to the wire and we knew even if we did start last, there was always a chance to keep doing the right thing, keep putting the boat in the right place and wait for the other to make mistakes, and luckily we managed to do that and came good in the end. I literally can’t believe it.”
It has been a hugely successful season for Emirates GBR, with three event wins, 12 race wins and 30 podium finishes, an impressive feat considering Driver Dylan Fletcher only joined the team at the start of the season.
The team has also had reason to celebrate off the water, after being crowned Impact League champions for the second year running earlier this week. SailGP’s Impact League is a championship that tracks and rewards teams for their social and environmental impact and Emirates GBR made history as the first team to win the Impact League twice. On Saturday, Zara Tindall presented Emirates GBR CEO Sir Ben Ainslie with the Impact League trophy on stage in Abu Dhabi.
It was light conditions across the weekend in Abu Dhabi, with crew size being reduced from six to three people on-board for the four races on Saturday, before it was increased to four people on-board for Sunday’s action. Joining Fletcher on-board the F50 for the final race was Hannah Mills at Strategist, Luke Parkinson as Flight Controller and Iain Jensen as Wing Trimmer, while Grinders Nick Hutton and Neil Hunter had to cheer on from the support boat.
While the 2025 Season has come to a thrilling conclusion, SailGP fans do not have long to wait until the most exciting racing on water returns. The 2026 Season kicks off on 17 and 18 January, with SailGP making its debut in Perth, Western Australia. With the help of the legendary Fremantle ‘Doctor’ winds, the Oracle Perth Sail Grand Prix, presented by KPMG, is expected to produce some of the most exciting racing in SailGP history.