History on the water
Martine Grael’s Mubadala Brazil SailGP Team took a flawless start, flew clean through the first gate, and never looked back.
While others hunted pressure, the Brazilians found rhythm and speed in the light 18 km/h breeze and rolling Atlantic swell — sailing their best race of the season when it mattered most.
“It’s just incredible,” Grael said afterwards. “We’ve been building and learning every race. Today, everything clicked.”
Behind them, Quentin Delapierre’s France extended their resurgence, finishing just eight seconds adrift. Canada’s Giles Scott completed the podium, the NorthStar crew celebrating their first top-three result since Sydney.
Pressure points and penalties
For others, it was agony.
Tom Slingsby’s Australia again tangled with the boundary, copping two penalties within minutes of the start and falling to ninth. Italy suffered the same fate soon after.
New Zealand’s Black Foils, fighting to keep their Grand Final hopes alive, looked strong early before losing flight through Gate 3. The stumble dropped them from fifth to eighth — a potentially fatal slip in a field where every second counted.
“We just fell off the foils at the worst time,” helm Peter Burling admitted post-race. “But that’s SailGP — you’ve got to stay patient and trust the breeze will come back.”
Denmark heartbreak, Germany composure
The loudest groan of the afternoon came from Nicolai Sehested’s Rockwool Denmark boat.
Sitting fourth overall before the race, the Danes were on course for a Grand Final berth when a mistimed tack in the final leg dropped them off the foils.
By the time they recovered, Germany’s Erik Heil had already crossed the line in fifth, sealing Germany’s place in the final three.
“It’s brutal,” Sehested said on comms, frustration clear. “One mistake and you’re done.”
Heil, meanwhile, remained cool. “We just needed a clean race — and we got it,” he told media later. “No risks, no drama, just solid racing.”
Fleet Race 7 results
1st, Mubadala Brazil, 10 pts
2nd, France, 9 pts
3rd, NorthStar (Canada), 8 pts
4th, United States, 7 pts
5th, Germany by Deutsche Bank, 6 pts
6th, Emirates GBR, 5 pts
7th, Los Gallos, 4 pts
8th, Black Foils, 3 pts
9th, BONDS Flying Roos, 2 pts
10th, Red Bull Italy, 1 pts
11th, Switzerland, 0 pts
12th, ROCKWOOL Racing (Denmark), 0 pts
Final three decided
As the spray settled, calculators came out across the pontoons.
When the points were tallied, Emirates GBR held the overall lead on 49 points, Germany moved into second on 44, and New Zealand scraped through with 42 — a single point ahead of Denmark.
Spain’s Diego Botín finished seventh to end their home-water campaign fifth overall, while France climbed to sixth after a remarkable weekend turnaround.
