RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) 鈥� Tom Slingsby and his Flying Roos peaked on Sunday to win the SailGP event at Rio de Janeiro and regain top spot in the series standings.
Flying Roos entered the South America debut event with a and a but Slingsby said his crew didn’t find its rhythm in Brazil until sweeping the four races on Day 2 on Guanabara Bay.
鈥淭oday we finally showed what we鈥檙e capable of when everything comes together,鈥� the Olympic gold medalist said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a really satisfying feeling 鈥� not just as a driver, but also seeing it from a broader perspective.鈥�
The Flying Roos had enough cushion to secure the victory despite a five-point penalty following a collision with the Swiss team at the start of the sixth race.
鈥淚t was a challenging day, especially with the conditions and that incident at the start 鈥� the sun made it really hard to judge distances, and I misjudged it, which led to contact,鈥� Slingsby said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 the first time we鈥檝e hit another boat in SailGP, so not ideal, but we were lucky it didn鈥檛 impact the final result.鈥�
In the Grand Prix Final, Flying Roos held off Artemis SailGP, the Swedish entry which earned its first podium finish, and Los Gallos of Spain.
After four events, Slingsby, whose Australia team as co-owners, has a seven-point lead over defending champion Emirates GBR and an eight-point lead over third-place U.S. team.
The series features identical high-tech, high-speed 50-foot foiling catamarans. The next event will be staged next month in Bermuda before the series continues with stops in New York, Halifax (Canada), Britain, France and Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.
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