France driver Quentin Delapierre has debriefed the team’s much anticipated return to the racetrack, which saw the French finish third on the first day of racing in Sydney.
The team, which sat out the first two events of the season while awaiting a new F50, chalked up an impressively consistent 4-3-8-2 race record, made clean starts and pressured Australia in the fourth race of the day.
It marked the team’s first time using the new high speed T-Foils which, Delapierre said, required ‘completely different boat handling’.
“It’s unbelievable to sail here again, we had to adapt a lot but I think we learned a lot today.”
He added that Australia, which finished the day at the top of the leaderboard, remains the team to beat.
“The Aussies are still way, way ahead of everyone else - they’re the benchmark again.”
On a day when making good starts was key, Delapierre revealed the team suffered problems with its starting software in the third fleet race. “It’s a bit harsh, but other than that the other three starts were good ones, we found a gap and they were good overall.”
The team enters the second day of racing in third place overall and well within reach of the three-boat, winner-takes-all Final.
France has a proven track record in Sydney, winning the event here in Season 3 with three wins in three fleet races.
The KPMG Australia Sail Grand Prix | Sydney continues on February 9, with racing from 15:00 AEDT.
