Pete Burling led his New Zealand team to its second victory of the 2025 Season in Portsmouth, denying Emirates GBR a win on home waters in a thrilling finale.
The Black Foils went into the three-boat Final of the Emirates Great Britain Sail Grand Prix | Portsmouth trailing Dylan Fletcher’s Emirates GBR on points.
But in a SailGP Final the winner takes all - and Burling rose to the pressure, guiding New Zealand around the two-lap racecourse with flawless precision.
Emirates GBR took the fight to New Zealand and were still in contention on the final downwind leg as they chased down their rivals, but ultimately the Black Foils proved too good.
The British team came home second, with Switzerland picking up its first ever podium finish in third.
Crucially the victory - the first for New Zealand since the 2025 Season opener in Dubai - rockets Burling’s crew into the top spot on the overall 2025 Season leaderboard with five events still to go.
“It’s unreal - one of our best moments in SailGP,” said New Zealand wing trimmer Blair Tuke from the water.
“It was a huge fight from the team. We’re getting better on T-Foils and in these conditions, so to do it against strong opposition and beat the British on their home waters feels pretty good.”
Emirates GBR was the most consistent team over the seven fleet races, but had to settle for second in front of an army of home supporters in what was its fourth Final of the season so far.
Fletcher’s crew did however clock a whopping 86.72km/h, the fastest speed logged during the two days of high-speed racing.
Despite a disappointing end to the Final as technical issues ended its chances of a win, Seb Schneiter’s Switzerland celebrated making its first Final since joining SailGP in at the beginning of Season 3.
Both Spain and the BONDS Flying Roos, arguably the two hottest teams coming into the Portsmouth event, missed out on the Final.
After sitting out the first day of Portsmouth due to a dramatic wing collapse just moments before racing, France was back in action after a monumental effort from its shore crew and SailGP Technologies team.
Driver Quentin Delappiere came back firing, notching up one race win and a second over Sunday’s three fleet races.
Next up, SailGP will debut in Germany for the eighth event of the 2025 Season when racing resumes at the Germany Sail Grand Prix | Sassnitz on August 16 and 17.
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