DIEGO BOTIN’S SPAIN STUNNED SAILGP HEAVYWEIGHTS AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND IN THE THREE-BOAT SHOWDOWN TO TAKE THE CHAMPIONSHIP TITLE AND $2 MILLION PRIZE IN A THRILLING END TO SEASON 4.
Los Gallos ended Australia’s three-Championship winning streak and wrote themselves into the history books against all odds. Poor fleet race results, combined with France’s blistering race starts, saw Spain close to losing its place in the Grand Final. But when racing continued on day two, disaster struck - with the French crashing into ROCKWOOL DEN to pick up season-ending penalty points and serious damage to their F50.
Perfect start line execution propelled Spain into an early lead when the Grand Final began and, despite Australia coming close to overtaking, Los Gallos managed to cross the finish line in the nick of time, sealing their first ever Championship win on the iconic waters of San Francisco Bay.
SailGP recap all the action from the adrenaline-filled spectacle
BOTIN REACTS: SPAIN DRIVER PAYS TRIBUTE TO RUSSELL COUTTS; REVEALS F50 DAMAGE IN GRAND FINAL
Spain driver Diego Botin has paid tribute to the support of SailGP boss Russell Coutts and revealed the team suffered boat damage in the last moments of San Francisco’s Grand Final.
The young Spanish team stunned top teams Australia and New Zealand, beating them to the Season 4 Championship title after sneaking into the Grand Final at the 11th hour.
The triumph followed a tumultuous season for the team, which ended Season 3 in last place and underwent a crew reshuffle.
Speaking after racing, Botin paid tribute to SailGP boss Russell Coutts for his support.
“He believed in a very young team with no experience in this type of racing and we’ve gone through very hard moments,” he said. “He was the only one telling us ‘guys, you will get there' and (…) without him we could not have done what we have done today.”
He said the win had been a ‘massive team effort’ and revealed the Spanish F50 had suffered a damaged rudder in the final moments of the Grand Final.
“I was quite nervous because in the last jibe we got something in the rudder and the feeling was very bad,” Botin said. “Australia was close to us and I thought we might be in a bad situation, but when we looked back we saw they were far away and we knew we would win.”
Strategist Nicole van der Velden added that it had been a day ‘of ups and downs’ after France threatened Spain’s place in the Grand Final in fleet racing. A stellar first day of 1-3-3 finishes saw France closing in on Spain’s Grand Final place, before the team dramatically collided with ROCKWOOL DEN in the fourth fleet race.
Congratulations, Spain!
“We had different things we had to think about - trying to get into the Final because obviously the French had a great day yesterday and we had a tight battle with them,” she said. “It was not going to be an easy battle today but once we were in the final it was a huge team effort.”
Looking ahead, Botin said he would be ‘focused’ on ensuring Spain makes the start line of the 2024/2025 Season, which kicks off in Dubai this November.
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