SailGP has unveiled its largest-ever F50 fleet will hit the startline in Dubai, with 11 groups – together with two new nations – set to battle it out on the opening occasion of the season, the Emirates Dubai Sail Grand Prix offered by P&O Marinas, on November 23-24 2024.
The worldwide racing championship has confirmed a 12-strong fleet in Auckland, the second occasion of the season, after quick monitoring the manufacturing of ‘boat 12.’ At the moment underneath accelerated improvement between New Zealand and SailGP Applied sciences amenities in Southampton, UK, the league’s twelfth supercharged F50 catamaran can be utilized by France. Les Bleus is not going to race in Dubai because the workforce and its potential new possession group has determined to attend for the league’s latest F50. The workforce can be current for the season launch within the UAE, with a collection of scheduled coaching days post-event. France will be part of the fleet in Auckland after being awarded compensatory factors for the Dubai occasion.
Plans for a brand new Italy SailGP Workforce are additionally confirmed, with official workforce announcement – together with the total athlete line-up – to observe. The workforce can be led by former SailGP star Jimmy Spithill, who introduced his intentions to kind an Italian workforce after his exit from the U.S. SailGP Workforce one yr in the past.
Italy would be the second new nationwide workforce to affix SailGP within the 2025 Season. Confirmed in June, the Mubadala Brazil SailGP Workforce may also race for the primary time in Dubai, led by double Olympic Gold Medalist Martine Grael, the primary girl to ever drive for a SailGP workforce. Workforce CEO Alan Adler has indicated the workforce can be made up of a roster of recent and skilled SailGP athletes, together with a handful of high-profile transfers forward of the Dubai occasion.
Groups racing within the Emirates Dubai Sail Grand Prix embrace Spain, New Zealand, Australia, ROCKWOOL Denmark, Emirates GBR, United States, Switzerland, Canada, Germany, Mubadala Brazil and Italy. Immediately’s announcement confirms that Season Champions Spain and New Zealand’s Black Foils will each compete within the 2025 Season. Industrial discussions round each league-owned groups are ongoing.
SailGP Managing Director Andrew Thompson mentioned, “In a little bit underneath one month’s time, SailGP’s largest-ever nationwide fleet will hit the startline within the Dubai, culminating a interval of speedy growth for the league – with a number of workforce gross sales, new host venues, and a few very thrilling new international partnerships which can be introduced as we head into Dubai.”
Thompson continued, “The 2025 Season launch will cement SailGP’s place because the main on-water racing championship, with the world’s finest athletes competing year-round in iconic international locations. Last workforce lineups display we’re attracting and retaining the game’s finest expertise, with the highest SailGP athletes recognised because the main stars on this new period of sail racing. Along with a aggressive switch market, we’re excited to substantiate a handful of recent workforce athlete signings over the approaching weeks.”
With 12 nationwide groups on the startline in January 2025, SailGP has additionally confirmed a brand new scoring system, wherein factors will solely be awarded to groups who end 1-10 in each qualifying fleet races and the general occasion outcomes. The 2025 Season additionally guarantees extra prize cash for SailGP athletes, with the league signaling intentions to considerably enhance the general purse up for grabs throughout the season, which totaled US $7million in Season 4 – the most important within the sport.
Unfolding over two action-packed days on the pristine waters of Mina Rashid, the Emirates Dubai Sail Grand Prix offered by P&O Marinas is ready to be a flagship occasion on the Center East sporting calendar – the third time SailGP has visited the town. Racing close-to-shore, in entrance of the city skyline – framed by the Burj Khalifa and a few of the metropolis’s most globally-recognized points of interest – Dubai has performed host to a few of the championship’s most memorable racing motion, together with the closest-ever end in SailGP historical past in Season 4.
Tickets to the occasion are on sale now at SailGP.com/Dubai.