SAILING: Fifth win for the New Zealanders with a grand final on the horizon for the French

Consistently, Peter Burling's New Zealanders won the New York Grand Prix of Sailing.

The Blacks Foils have been leading the championship since their ninth Grand Prix of the season in Christchurch – which they won on home soil – while also securing their place in the Grand Final in San Francisco. Canada, led by Phil Robertson, finished second ahead of Britain's Giles Scott. Frenchman Quentin Delapierre had a great day (3-3) and finished fifth in New York. A process that kept them in fourth place in the tournament, behind the Spanish led by Diego Botin (third) and the Australians led by Tom Slingsby (second).

After a cloudy first day yesterday, winds returned to the waters of Upper New York Bay, allowing the ten F50s to fly more regularly and put on an exceptional show in the heart of the Big Apple. Under the gaze of the Statue of Liberty, the New Zealanders showed their intent, certainly one step ahead of their opponents. Their pilot Peter Burling admits he already had the San Francisco Grand Final in mind and was using every minute of the regatta to prepare for it. Good training for the team who seem experienced in fleet racing practice as well as in the three boat finals. With a limited amount of risk in the first few moments, and then impressive anticipation and control when it comes to three-way battles.

The French had no room for error on Sunday after yesterday's disappointing day, and were able to respond well. From the third race, we were able to witness the return of Quentin Delapierre's bold start. Starting from the end of the line, the French simultaneously choose the shortest route to mark the 1 they pass in front. But you still have to maintain the pace to pass the leeward gate in a good position, which is a kind of level crossing in the future. Which they do in advance. But behind them, the British, New Zealanders and Canadians chose the other side of the door, to the right. Upwind, the crossings are tight and the French show unusually lower speed. Finally, the faster Canadians took the lead and won, cementing their place in the final. The French finished a good third behind the New Zealanders.

The fourth and final fleet race: Another great start for the French driver Quentin Delapiere, who slipped in at the last moment between the Danes and the New Zealanders. The French F50 is well launched, leading until the windward gate where a loss of control in a swaying action sinks the flying boat which comes to a sudden stop. The Australians and New Zealanders take advantage of this to sneak in and widen the gap, but the French react quickly and resist the attacks of the British and Canadians. The fleet is stretched out and the dice is cast: the final will be Canada-New Zealand-Great Britain.

However, the Blues had the best day of the Fleet with two sets of 3 and can be proud of their rebound. They finished fifth in the 12th Grand Prix of Sailing, ahead of their Spanish and Danish rivals. Rather, they are close to third place in the general classification, which is separated by only 5 points.

The final, which brought together the top three teams from the New York Grand Prix at the end of four fleet races, saw Canadians Phil Robertson, New Zealanders Peter Burling and Britain's Giles Scott compete. But it all seemed to come down to the approach to the start line, as the New Zealanders skillfully managed to position themselves later and downwind of their opponents. At the sound of the cannon, everyone rushed forward at full speed. But Peter Burling and his black foil, which had been placed inside when they passed mark 1, took the lead. Then it was a story of dominance. First the New Zealanders held the Canadians back, second the British attacked them, third. And so the three boats sailed together to the finish line. Withstanding attacks from both sides, Phil Robertson gave his best performance (second) for his Canadian team, in the final for the fourth time this season. They climbed to fifth place in the overall standings, 67 points behind France (71 points), and ahead of the Danes who dropped to sixth place, tied with the Canadians.

If the New Zealanders appear to be out of reach on 93 points, and the noose is closing in on the contenders for the $2 million grand final, uncertainty is sure to remain until the last minute, in the final leg of the championship's final fleet race. San Francisco Sailing Grand Prix….See you on July 13th and 14th to find out the outcome of this exciting fourth season of SailGP!

Quentin Delapierre, France SailGP driver: “We had to try to pull something out of the hat to try to get to the final. I think the intention was really good. Despite everything, we couldn't win those two rounds. We really need to delve into the details and understand why we had difficulty validating These good starts in some Grand Prix through to winning qualifying we had a problem during the warm-up, we hit something in the water, and after that collision we had very bad feelings on board and suddenly we were not at all comfortable either in the wind or in the direction The wind. We'll see if the appendages are damaged or not, but in the first round we were not at all comfortable with the speed. We were caught very badly and in the second round, we completely crashed with a very simple maneuver. We have everything to make it work Francisco, there is no choice, it has to happen!!

Thierry Douillard, France SailGP Team Coach: “A beautiful day this Sunday but there are still some technical issues that put us in some difficulty. Quentin got his strength back at the start, with very clear choices. We wanted the left of the water to go up because there was a current difference. I think we made a little mistake in the third round where we took the buoy The left one is down when there was a way to take the right buoy that everyone took. But the rest of the game was always strong so it's a mixed result, there's frustration because we missed the opportunity yesterday. We underestimated the current at the windward gate, which put us in delicate positions but it was We had a great reaction from the crew today. We still grabbed a few points and the team showed that it has the character to respond well. We will get to San Francisco stronger.

New York Grand Sailing Award Classifications

1- New Zealand/ Peter Burling (5-3-4-2/1) 2- Canada/ Phil Robertson (4-2-1-4/2) 3- Emirates JBR/ Giles Scott (1-7-2) – 5/3) 4- Australia/ Tom Slingsby (3-6-9-1) 5- France/ Quentin Delapierre (9-5-3-3) 6- Switzerland/ Nathan Outridge (6-1-8-6) 7- Spain/ Diego Botín (7-4-6-7) 8- Rockwell Dean/ Nikolai Sehsted (2-8-5-10) 9- Germany/ Eric Hill (8-9-7-8) 10- United States / Taylor Canfield (10-10-10-9)

SAILGP Season 4 Overall Ranking

After 12 Grand Prix Sailing (after New York)

1- New Zealand/ Peter Burling – 93 points 2- Australia/ Tom Slingsby – 78 points 3- Spain/ Diego Botín – 76 points 4- France/ Quentin Delapierre – 71 points 5- Canada/ Phil Robertson – 67 points 6- Rockwool DEN / Nikolai Sehsted – 67 points 7- Emirates JBR / Giles Scott – 66 points 8- United States / Taylor Canfield – 51 points 9- Germany / Eric Hill – 35 points 10- Switzerland / Nathan Outridge – 33 points

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