SailGP Sees Goodison Sign off with Race Win at Great Britain Grand Prix

19th July 2021

The home crowd on Plymouth Hoe also had something to celebrate, as the British team secured a podium finish to open the day - before doing even better in race 4 to claim victory on its home waters Credit: SailGP

Paul Goodison, who is temporarily driving the British F50 in Ben Ainslie's absence, delighted home supporters by signing off his two-event stint at the helm of the Great Britain SailGP Team with a race win in the team's home Grand Prix in Plymouth.

In the second and final day of the Great Britain Sail Grand Prix, Britain's Ocean City Plymouth once again delivered stunning conditions for the eight-team fleet, the thousands of home supporters lining the Plymouth Hoe and the hundreds of supporter boats out on the water.

After struggling in the opening day, it was a much-improved performance for the British crew who finished third and first in their two races. That positioned the Great Britain SailGP Team in fourth of the overall Grand Prix table, just three points short of qualifying for the final winner-takes-all 'Podium Race'.

With the American, Australian, and French teams ultimately qualifying for the final podium race, it was Tom Slingsby's Australians who took the Grand Prix win in a neck-and-neck final. The results from Plymouth leave the Great Britain SailGP Team in second place on the overall Championship leaderboard, level of points with the leaders Australia SailGP Team, ahead of Ben Ainslie's return to the British team in the ROCKWOOL Denmark Sail Grand Prix in Aarhus in August.

The Australia SailGP Team on Sunday celebrated its first event win of SailGP Season 2, being crowned champion of the Great Britain Sail Grand Prix on Plymouth Sound, as a sun-drenched crowd was also treated to a race win for the home British team.

The final winner-takes-all podium race to take home the title at the Great Britain Sail Grand Prix was neck-and-neck throughout, with the lead changing frequently between all three teams due to high-octane racing combined with unforced errors.

The key manoeuvre of the race came on the sixth leg, when on a crucial cross Slingsby's Australia SailGP Team executed a perfect gybe in front of the French F50 in second place. That meant the Australian team, with local Devon hero Nick Hutton onboard, was able to take the win by six seconds.

The results from the Great Britain Sail Grand Prix leave the British and Australian teams tied on 22 points at the top of the SailGP leaderboard. The Championship leaderboard is incredibly close, with just five points separating the top and bottom teams. Great Britain SailGP Team CEO Ben Ainslie will return to drive the team's F50 in the ROCKWOOL Denmark Sail Grand Prix in Aarhus, Denmark on 20-21 August.

Great Britain Sail Grand Prix // Plymouth

1 // Australia
2 // France
3 // United States
4 // Great Britain
5 // Denmark
6 // Japan
7 // New Zealand
8 // Spain

SailGP Season Championship leaderboard (after 3 events):

1 // Australia // 22 pts
2 // Great Britain // 22 pts
3 // France // 21 pts
4 // United States // 19 pts
5 // Japan // 19 pts
6 // Spain // 19 pts
7 // Denmark // 17 pts
8 // New Zealand // 17 pts

Published in SailGP

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