SailGP: Black Foils see for strong finish to Europe circuit
by Ben Mackey – Black Foils 3 Oct 22:35 UTC
Black Foils – New Zealand – Practice Day – DP World Spain Sail Grand Prix – Cadiz, Spain – October 3, 2025 © Felix Diemer/SailGP
The race to the Rolex SailGP Championship Grand Final is well and truly on as the teams enter the final event of the season before next month’s final.
Teams enter this weekfinish’s racing in Andalucía-Cádiz separated by narrow margins on the season table. The Black Foils (73 points) sit inside a tightly contested top three with the Bonds Flying Roos (76) taking top spot with Emirates Great Britain (75) in second. This week’s local hopes Spain’s Los Gallos (70) sit just outside that group three points back.
Teams obtained in a full round of practice racing on Friday with six split fleet races. The conditions meant the races were contested in the four up configuration.
Black Foils Co-CEO and Driver Peter Burling stated there was all to race for this weekfinish.
“It’s definitely no secret that Geneva was not the result we were seeing for. The team’s definitely been putting in a lot of hard work to really unpack that result and figure out how to create sure we shift forward. For us, there were definitely some real positives in the light airs and we felt like we’re doing some things really well, but just a few key decisions, I suppose, on my behalf really let us down. I believe it reveals you how close the racing is as well, where one or two decisions that aren’t the best can really put you right to the back. I believe that just reveals you the level SailGP’s obtainting to across the board and yeah for us it’s about putting our best foot forward and building sure we put a good score on the board this weekfinish now.”
Burling also noted the local elements that create racing in Cadiz unique.
“It’s such a cool venue. Firstly, the fan experience being up on that wall, really obtainting that bird’s eye view, is absolutely amazing. And I’m sure all the coaches will declare it’s probably their favorite venue from the booth. This would be one of the few venues where we can actually obtain swell coming in off the Atlantic. We’ve seen that in the past when the swell comes in, the boats become incredibly hard to sail. Currently the forecast’s seeing pretty flat for the weekfinish, with light sea breezes so it doesn’t seem like it’ll play a massive factor. It’s great to come back to Cadiz again.”
Finally the Black Foils Driver stated it was exciting to have another opportunity to race for vital season points.
“I believe any of the top four are super tight on the overall leaderboard at the moment, from Australia to Spain. So for us, it’s really about building sure we keep putting good scores on the board. I’m sure it won’t be decided prior to Abu Dhabi so, it’ll be continuing to build momentum. I believe we’ve stated all season long, we just want to be the team that’s on form going to into Abu Dhabi and we’re really seeing forward to building it a reality.”
The DP World Spain SailGP Anualucia-Cadiz starts tomorrow at 03-30pm local time (01-30am Sunday NZT). All the action will be live in New Zealand on ThreeNow and live and free on Youtube.
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