Australia Tops Table In Rival Waters As Auckland Lights Up For The ITM New Zealand Sail Grand Prix

Australia tops the table on rival waters after day one of the ITM New Zealand Grand Prix l Auckland, as SailGP made its debut in front of over 12,000 people on a picture perfect day in the City of Sails. 

For the first time ever, SailGP adopted a ‘Super Saturday’ format, staging four fleet races to showcase the fast and furious action on the stunning Waitematā Harbor. 

Despite shifty conditions, the shortest course on the 2025 Season calendar, and the introduction of SailGP’s new high-speed, titanium ‘T-Foils,’ the Rolex SailGP Championship’s 11-strong national fleet displayed masterful racing in front of passionate Kiwi fans.

Emirates Great Britain and Spain sit behind the Aussies going into day two and after a slow start hometown heroes, the Black Foils, recovered to win the final fleet race of the day to sit in fourth place.

Australian Driver and CEO Tom Slingsby was reluctant to get too ahead of himself with challenging conditions forecast for tomorrow. 

“We’re not counting our chickens early here at all,” Slingsby said. “We started really well in Dubai and missed the final, we know that mathematically we can easily get knocked out of the final.”

“Wind is very high for tomorrow so we’ve got to see what happens with that. It’s going to be right on the top end of the conditions, it’s a tight race track, so yeah look, collisions and capsizes could happen tomorrow, so we’re just going to focus on ourselves to execute and see if we can make that final.

Black Foil’s Driver and CEO Peter Burling said it was a day to remember, despite the slow start.

“We battled a little in the first three but with the last one we got off the start, led in mark one, and just sent it the whole way through,” Burling said. “The crowd has been absolutely epic all day. Having this debut event in Auckland and seeing the Grandstand full and all the boats around the course made it a really special day’s yachting.”

How it unfolded: 

It was a tough start on home waters for the Kiwis, arriving late and missing the start. The same couldn’t be said for Spain, Emirates Great Britain and Switzerland who drag-raced to the first mark, with the British team prevailing in a flawless opening display. The Black Foils recovered to fight their way back from the back of the field for a respectable fourth place in race one.

A spectacular start from Lady Liberty and the United States SailGP Team took a turn when disaster struck on leg four with their boat taking a nose dive in a strong gust, leaving them well behind in the fleet. Tom Slingsby and the Australian team took the opportunity for victory in race two, with the Black Foils struggling to eighth. 

Switzerland led from start to finish in race three, claiming their first win since New York in Season 4. Behind them, Australia remained consistent for second whilst New Zealand put pressure on themselves with a sixth place.

With their backs against the wall and a vocal home crowd anxious to see them at their best, the Black Foils wrote the perfect script in the final race of the day. Nailing the start for the first time, the Kiwis delivered under pressure to keep themselves in the mix and ensure their fans left on a high. 

All 11 national teams return as the most exciting racing on water returns tomorrow with racing kicking off at 4pm. A handful of tickets remain, available for purchase at SailGP.com/Auckland with the races broadcast live on Three and ThreeNow. 

Standings after Day 1 of the ITM New Zealand Sail Grand Prix | Auckland:

1 - Australia 34 pts

2 - Emirates GBR 28 pts

3 - Spain 26 pts

4 - New Zealand Black Foils 25 pts

5 - Red Bull Italy 24 pts

6 - Rockwool Denmark 23 pts

7 - Switzerland 19 pts

8 - Canada 19 pts 

9 - USA 11 pts

10 - Mubadala Brazil - 6 pts

11 - Germany SailGP Team Presented by Deutsche Bank - 5 pts

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