MADRID, 27 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Spanish sailor Jordi Xammar made his debut this morning on the SailGP World Circuit with second, third and eighth places on the first day of the United States Mubadala Grand Prix, which is taking place in San Francisco Bay.
The Catalan, bronze in the 470 category along with Galician Nicolás Rodríguez at the Tokyo Olympics, made his debut as skipper of the ‘F50 Victoria’ with a fifth position overall that allows him to reach the final day of this Sunday, which will be held again with the Golden Gate and Alcatraz prison as a backdrop.
After the dispute on the first day, Japan and Australia tied for the top with 18 points, two more than Great Britain and Denmark (16) and four more than Spain (14). The results of this Sunday will determine the third team that will accompany Australia and the United States in the Grand Final of the second season.
“There is a lot of room for improvement, especially on my part in terms of stability in manoeuvres, but we have had two very good races. We have been able to remain calm and have enjoyed ourselves,” said Xammar.
For his part, Florian Trittel, wing trimmer, described the day as “incredible”. “We have been fighting at the top and that is a success. This is the reason why we decided that Jordi would drive the ‘F50 Victoria’. We knew that if we did things right we could be up front. This team has a great future. Let’s keep on this dynamic and with a job well done,” he said.
For the first time, the ‘F50 Victoria’ sailed in competition with a completely Spanish crew, made up of Jordi Xammar, Paula Barceló, Florian Trittel, Diego Botín, Joan Cardona, Joel Rodríguez and Mateu Barber. In the first regatta, Xammar started first and had a first pulse with Japan, which ended up coming back, and a ‘wheelie’ ended with the Spanish options. Great Britain snatched the first position from the Japanese and won ahead of Australia and New Zealand, with Spain eighth.
In the second race, the ‘F50 Victoria’ did not force the start, remained more conservative and hit a good strategy that would culminate in third position. Already in the third, Spain remained in the leading group at all times and fought for victory with the Japanese, who finally won ahead of Xammar’s team.