SailGP Arrives in València With Abu Dhabi in Sight
The Rolex SailGP Championship arrives in Spain this weekend – setting sail for the very first time in València. Thirteen international teams will contest the brand-new racecourse set between the city beach and the harbor breakwater, as the championship races towards its decisive phase.
Photo: Jason Ludlow for SailGP. Handout image supplied by SailGP
The event comes at a critical time for 2024 Rolex SailGP Champions, Los Gallos, as the home team look to solidify their lead and close the 14-point gap between themselves and frontrunners, the Bonds Flying Roos.
“It’s a very special feeling,” said driver Diego Botín. “We have the chance to race at home once a year, and for us and our team it’s an incredible boost. SailGP is an international competition that takes us to iconic cities around the world, but nothing beats racing at home with all the support of the fans. We’re really looking forward to this week.”
Back-to-back winners in Halifax and Portsmouth, strategist Nicole van der Velden says the job in València is to maintain focus on the road ahead. Despite their standout form in recent seasons, Spain has never made an event final at home.
“We always want to do the best we can at every event and, obviously, we want to win. That’s why we’re all here,” she said. “But ultimately, the first thing is to get those two places ahead of us and make the Final. Once we’re in the Final, then it’s all about going for the win.”
Photo: Samo Vidic for SailGP. Handout image supplied by SailGP
Only three events remain between teams and the season-deciding Grand Final in Abu Dhabi in November. And while some crews are hoping to maximize recent momentum, others risk running out of time to earn the third and final spot in the winner-takes-all race.
That includes 2025 Season defending champions Emirates GBR, for whom València is pivotal battle ground to gain places ahead of rivals including NorthStar, France and the U.S. SailGP Team – all firmly in the fight in the Race to Abu Dhabi.
Driver Dylan Fletcher said, “We’ve obviously not had a good run of it recently, but we were in this position last year and we pulled it out of the bag with a strong finish. The team is working tirelessly to try and improve in every little area.”
“It’s a different set of conditions this weekend and we’ll see how we get on,” Fletcher continued. “Ultimately, in the last two events we’ve been two points away from the final. It’s fine margins in SailGP and we’ve just been on the wrong side of them.”
Day 1 – Los Gallos and Red Bull Italy Set the Pace on Valencia Opening Day
Los Gallos top the table after a dominant opening day in Valencia – wowing the home crowd with consecutive race wins. Red Bull Italy showed some of their best form in recent events, closing the day just one point behind the Bonds Flying Roos in Group A.
Photo: Ricardo Pinto for SailGP. Handout image supplied by SailGP
All 13 international teams battled patchy, light conditions and a tight, tactical racetrack – with those fast off the line rewarded as passing lanes behind them quickly disappeared. Every race winner on Saturday led at mark one.
Racing was again split into two groups – the league’s format for the remainder of the 2026 Season – with the Bonds Flying Roos, Emirates GBR, Artemis, Red Bull Italy, Mubadala Brazil, Explora Journeys Swiss and the Black Foils in Group A, and Los Gallos, the U.S. SailGP Team, Germany by Deutsche Bank, DS Automobiles Team France, ROCKWOOL Racing and NorthStar in Group B.
Los Gallos got the perfect start in the opening race of the day (B1), and were clear within minutes – converting home advantage into an opening win. Behind them, the U.S. and ROCKWOOL filled the podium after a strong comeback from the Danes, while NorthStar were unable to recover from an early start penalty, finishing fifth.
Spanish driver Diego Botín said, “We couldn’t ask to start the event better than doing it in your home event with all the crowd pushing. It felt amazing.”
In Race A1, Red Bull Italy nailed the start – leading across six-leg track to sweep over the line first ahead of the Bonds Flying Roos in second and Mubadala Brazil in third. An early-start in the same race dropped the Black Foils to the back of the fleet, while Artemis were unable to make the start line as a broken jib halyard forced a pit-lane repair.
Photo: Ricardo Pinto for SailGP. Handout image supplied by SailGP
In Group B’s second race, Los Gallos traded leads with ROCKWOOL Racing – edging the Danes by centimeters to claim their second consecutive win. The U.S. finished third, while Germany by Deutsche Bank and NorthStar struggled in fifth and sixth, respectively.
The Bonds Flying Roos claimed the win in Race A2 – a birthday victory for driver Tom Slingsby – with Emirates GBR close behind. Artemis, back after race one, banked crucial points in third.
ROCKWOOL Racing took the win in Group B’s third and final fleet race, ahead of Los Gallos in second and the U.S. SailGP Team in third. It ended a day of consistent podium results for all three teams, a welcome result for Danish driver Nicolai Sehested.
“It was nice to finally get a bit of success,” Sehested said. “I know it’s light winds, it’s easier conditions, so it’s easier to be fast. Not easy, but definitely easier. So I know there’s still a long way to go, but we’ve got to take the positives and we’re happy with our day today.”
The Danes sit second in Group B and third on the combined leaderboard with 12 points, while the U.S. SailGP Team are close behind with 10 – keeping Taylor Canfield’s American crew firmly in the hunt for a much-needed event final as the Race to Abu Dhabi surges ahead. Leading the fleet with 14 points, Spain’s chances of their first home event final are all but guaranteed barring disaster on Day 2.
It was a challenging opening day for NorthStar despite recent momentum, finishing 5, 6, 5 in qualifying fleet races. Driver Giles Scott said the team were “on the back foot” for much of the day.
“It’s quite a marginal gains day, hunting for lanes,” Scott said. “Trying to execute those marginal maneuvers, and yeah, it was tough when we were behind. It didn’t really feel like there were any passing lanes, and then when we did get ourselves back into it, we managed to create a few passing lanes for others. So yeah, a frustrating one for us, but there’s scope for us to move forward tomorrow. It’s only a couple of points up to third or fourth, so that’s kind of the goal for tomorrow for us.”
A second victory in race 3 leaves Red Bull Italy just one point behind the Roos in Group A, as Explora Journeys Swiss finished second and Artemis third.
Red Bull Italy driver Phil Robertson said, “The execution of maneuvers is so much easier when you’re in the front. Makes you look good! So yeah, getting to mark one in P1 is crucial and then you’re in clear air the whole race.”
Robertson continued, “This team’s been grafting for a long time now, and the last three months we’ve just put in a huge effort to try and get better. It’s no secret in life, the harder you work, the better you’re going to get. So we’ve been working hard and seeing big, big progress over the last few months. Not quite in the results as we would have liked it, but nice to validate today that a lot of the hard work is starting to pay off.”
Battling disturbed air, the Black Foils finished sixth – ending a disappointing day for the Kiwi crew who came away with just two points on the event leaderboard and a scorecard of 6, 4, 6.
Day 2 – U.S. SailGP Team Snatch Valencia Win to Reignite Grand Final Push
The U.S. SailGP Team claimed their second event victory of the 2026 Season – keeping their Grand Final fight alive as they moved up to third on the overall championship standings.
Photo: Benjamin Rosewall for SailGP. Handout image supplied by SailGP
The all-American crew defeated the Bonds Flying Roos in a decisive event final – overtaking the three-time Rolex SailGP Champions after a defining last upwind leg. Australia crossed the line second, followed by Red Bull Italy who finished third in their first-ever final appearance, and ROCKWOOL Denmark in fourth.
U.S. driver Taylor Canfield said, “We knew we had what it took yesterday. We came in today with a good plan and went out and executed. The pressure was on to make some moves in the final, and we did a great job handling the tactics. Everyone on board was spot-on, so yeah, we’re pumped.”
The U.S. have historically performed well in light conditions – topping the podium in Valencia with four crewmembers on-board, and full-time grinder Anna Weis comfortably behind the handles.
Canfield continued, “I’d say we’re more of an all-around team now, but we love these conditions. We feel very comfortable throwing the boat around and we’re confident in our decisions. We’ll take it, and we’re going to have a lot more of these conditions coming up. We’re ready for them.”
The victory is Canfield’s second in a SailGP career that now boasts 30 fleet-race wins. Leapfrogging Artemis and Emirates GBR on the overall standings, the win has injected new life in the Americans’ bid for the Abu Dhabi Grand Final.
Canfield insists the team is taking it “day by day still.” Continuing, “We’ve got to keep getting better and stick to our process. Haters are going to hate, but we believe, so we’re going to keep pushing and hopefully that’ll be enough.”
Equipped with the light-air titanium foils, rudders and 27.5-meter wingsail, each group had just one qualifying fleet race on Championship Sunday.
Photo: Felix Diemer for SailGP. Handout image supplied by SailGP
It was another victory for Red Bull Italy in Group A – their third in four fleet races – earning their first final appearance since joining SailGP in 2025. Driver Phil Robertson called the weekend “the best that this team’s had.” He continued, “We finished P3 and won three out of the four races in our group, which is quite a tough ask. We’ve been starting really, really well off the line, but in that final we broke the start line 0.2 seconds early and just ran out of a bit of space at that boat end.
“We fought super hard and got back into that race and even had a shot at the win right at the end. I’m really proud of the team. It’s been a lot of hard work over the last few months. It’s felt like there’s been a lot of progress and we’re taking big steps forward and closing the gap to the top teams. The results weren’t coming, but now this is sort of validation, we are making the right moves and doing the right thing.”
Finishing last in a disastrous final fleet race in Group B, Los Gallos missed out on a home event final despite leading the fleet on day one. Driver Diego Botin said: “Obviously, we wanted to win the final here in Valencia, especially after the great day we had yesterday. But we need to take the learnings and move forward.
“We just had a bad race. The Danes and the Americans deserve to pass into the final and we need to take the learnings. We need to use this hard moment to really dig deep and keep moving forward, especially in these light-air conditions.”
The final began with an early-start penalty for Red Bull Italy, as the Bonds Flying Roos led to mark one and took control for much of the race. But the Americans came again – minimizing distance and maneuvers in the challenging breeze to gain distance on the Australians before shutting the door coming around the last mark.
Conceding what would be his sixth event win of the season, Bonds Flying Roos driver Tom Slingsby said, “95% of the final was good for us. We had a great start… then that last bottom-mark gate decision, in hindsight, I look at it as an own goal. We should have taken the left turn there. But the left gate hadn’t been very good throughout the day, and we were sort of saying, ‘Do what we’ve been doing all day,’ which was right turn. We’d been making gains all day. I’m frustrated at that one for sure.
“I think we just need to look at the comms there, because the way we’re sailing the boat is the best we’ve ever sailed the boat. We’re strong in light winds, we’re strong in heavy winds, we just feel good everywhere.”
Photo: Jason Ludlow for SailGP. Handout image supplied by SailGP
With only three Grand Prix remaining after Valencia, the fight for a place in the US $2 million Grand Final race has intensified further. Just five points separate the U.S. SailGP Team, Artemis and Emirates GBR in the fight for the third and final Abu Dhabi spot, while the Bonds Flying Roos sit 17 clear of Los Gallos at the top.
All eyes now turn to Geneva, the final European event of the 2026 Season. Limited tickets remain. Find out more at SailGP.com/Geneva.
