MADRID, 19 Jun. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Spanish SailGP team, skippered by Jordi Xammar, finished in sixth position on the opening day of the T-Mobile United States Sail Grand Prix-Chicago at Navy Pier, the first freshwater race in SailGP history and in which has dominated Canada.
In a race course attached to the city of Chicago, which limited the wind, and a density of water less than salt, which increased the speed of the fastest catamarans in the sea by 5%, the ‘roosters’ were sixth after finishing in fifth, sixth and fifth position, respectively, the three races of the first day.
The ‘F50 Victoria’ was once again captained by Jordi Xammar, accompanied by Florian Trittel (wing trimmer), Diego Botín (flight controller), Jake Lilley (grinder), Joan Cardona (tactician and grinder) and Paula Barceló (athlete). .
“We have taken steps in the right direction,” said Xammar. “We still have a lot to learn, but we have done important things that we wanted to improve with respect to the last Grand Prix. Now we have tomorrow; we have to push and we will go for it”, added the Catalan.
Despite the great starts, the problems for the Spanish team came in navigation due to some unforced errors. One of the biggest challenges for Spain came during the third race, when a flight control complication caused a crash into the water, resulting in loss of control, speed and positions. Despite this, Spain reacted positively and repositioned the F50 Victoria correctly, avoiding a major disaster.
Meanwhile, Canadians and British were the most outstanding teams, with a great fight in the last two races. The Australians were not able to repeat the first position they took in Bermuda and fell to fourth place. For its part, the American team failed to assert its position at home in Chicago and ended up bottom.
In the first race, the ‘F50 Victoria’ signed a good start and managed to position itself in the first places, trying to get closer to the ‘kiwis’, who dominated Lake Michigan. The ‘roosters’ decided to stand out on the other side of the regatta field to avoid the dirty wind of their rivals and lost three positions, being overtaken by the Swiss, Canadians and Danes and finishing fifth.
In the second race, they were second from the start behind Phil Robertson’s Canadians, who led to the finish. However, a fight with Denmark, sanctioned with a penalty, and then with Australia pushed the Spanish team back, which finished sixth.
Finally, in the third race, Xammar’s men experienced a repetition of the previous one, with a great start after Canada. The loss of positions due to a complication in flight control was a determining factor for the ‘roosters’, who shortly after had to play a new duel with Denmark, which led them to move away from the top positions and finish in fifth position.