This weekend’s SailGP Season 4 Grand Final is set to be the final event for one national team – could even title hopefuls New Zealand’s place in the league be at risk?
LONDON – July 8, 2024 – The latest episode of SailGP’s Racing on the Edge docuseries, in partnership with Rolex, provides a behind-the-scenes look at tension and uncertainty building across the global racing championship, with time running out for four teams to secure their place on the startline next season.
In the episode, SailGP CEO Russell Coutts reveals that league-owned teams Canada, France and Spain have been issued formal notice that one will be dropped from the league should they fail to secure third-party ownership or full commercial backing by the start of the 2024/2025 Season in November.
Coutts said: “There’s one team that’s going to have to leave the league. Right now the teams that have been notified are Canada, France and Spain.”
The first of new teams and ownerships is confirmed in New York – with a press conference announcement celebrating the acquisition of the league’s first South American team, the Mubadala Brazil SailGP Team. As the episode goes on to reveal promising commercial developments for Spain, Canada and France, Coutts drops another bombshell: “What if they [Canada, France and Spain] all found their funding? Well then it leaves one other team that could be dropped – New Zealand.”
The revelation ratchets up pressure for the Black Foils ahead of this weekend’s San Francisco Grand Final – with national pride, personal glory, US $2million in prize money and now, the team’s future, all on the line. The season leaders and only team with a confirmed spot in the Grand Final race, fans are also left asking, “Would the league really drop New Zealand?”
Elsewhere, Racing on the Edge provides a personal look at the Canada SailGP Team and driver Phil Robertson. Following Canada at their first home event in Halifax, viewers get a glimpse of Robertson and the team’s antics, on and off the water.
Robertson – who has driven for three national teams, including China (Season 1), Spain (Season 2) and now Canada – makes his own case for the team’s commercial viability next season – whilst also taking the opportunity to cast doubt on his competitors’ chances.
“I’ve got a lot of optimism about what’s happening in the background commercially. There’s some good things going on and for sure this team needs to stay in this league,” said Robertson.
“Everyone loves to talk it up, and in reality, I don’t think many of these teams have many leads. We have a fish on the hook and yeah, it’s real.”
The most exciting racing on water, SailGP returns for the final stop on the league’s record 13-event calendar, the SailGP Season 4 Grand Final, this weekend in San Francisco. Five remaining fleet races will determine who earns a spot alongside Peter Burling’s Black Foils in the ultimate decider, the winner-takes-all Grand Final.
Credit: SAILGP