The Spanish team in the Rolex SailGP Championship, piloted by Diego Botín, has not obtained reward despite risking race after race in the waters of the Persian Gulf, due to two penalties in the starts that have marred their Saturday during the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the twelfth and final round of this sailing competition.
It was a day with very little wind, with only three athletes inside each F50 catamaran and where neither the British, nor ‘Kiwis’, nor ‘Aussies’ or Spaniards performed at the level of other Grand Prix. Spain, which could have taken advantage of that situation, was not able to perform like last year in this same scenario at the gates of the Grand Final.
After a bad start in the first race, the Spanish ‘Roosters’ recovered to start the three subsequent races well. They were so premature that two of them incurred a penalty, having to make way for the rest of the fleet. Even so, Spain finished the third race of the day three points behind Tom Slingsby’s Australia, raising hopes.
However, everything fell apart in the last round. At the end of this first day in Abu Dhabi, the ‘Roosters’ are last in the Grand Prix standings, just behind the Australian ‘Bonds Flying Roos’. It is a void fight for now, since neither of them would score points overall. The positive note for Spain is that everything is very tight.