SailGP Christchurch: New Zealand team close in on $1 million final after second-placed finish

New Zealand and Australia led the field in the first two fleet races on Sunday. Photo / Photosport

Job done for the New Zealand SailGP team.

While an event win in their first home event would have been one to savour, in the context of the season, a second-placed finish has seen them significantly improve their chances of a spot in May’s grand final.

Only the top three teams on the leaderboard qualify for the one-off race to decide the title, and this weekend’s event in Lyttelton has seen the Kiwis put space between themselves and the chasing teams.

While the New Zealand team only finished second, it was a Kiwi hoisting the event trophy for the first event on New Zealand shores, with Phil Robertson leading the Canadian team to their first SailGP event win.

“Definitely in the bigger picture, it’s on the season points so we’re quite happy with that,” New Zealand strategist Liv Mackay said. “But we always come to win so it was definitely a little bit gutting as a team. We all feel the same way and it just shows we care.

“It’s good that we’re all on the same page and felt like we could’ve done a bit better, but all in all we were really stoked and happy to have our home event. We couldn’t have asked for more.”

Robertson displayed his world championship-winning match racing tactics in the final, claiming the ideal position at the starting line to take the early lead, jostling with the New Zealanders throughout the second half of the podium race and overcoming a couple of issues to down the stretch to out-pace the Kiwis and win the event. Australia, who were the form team in the two fleet races on Sunday, finished third.

With the result, Australia maintain a clear lead in the championship standings, while the Kiwis extended their lead over the next closest team, France, to four points, and sit five points ahead of fourth-placed Great Britain.

“I feel like there was some good viewing for the fans out there,” Mackay said. “Canada did a really good job. Phil is a Kiwi so we’re stoked for him to get the win; they definitely made it hard. There were possibly a few opportunities that we could have taken as a team, so we’ll look back on that, but it was seriously good racing out there.”

Having finished day one at the top of the leaderboard, the Kiwis simply needed to avoid disaster in the event’s final two fleet races to confirm their place in the podium race.

That didn’t prove to be an issue, finishing both races in second place - trailing Australia in both.

With just one event remaining, only four teams remain in the hunt for the grand final. Australia have locked their spot away, however the Kiwis, France and Great Britain are all in with a shot, though it would take a terrible set of fleet races in San Francisco for the New Zealanders to miss out on the three-team shootout.

“Anything can happen,” said Mackay. “We’ve seen a lot of damage and things like that; there are a lot of factors. Just getting on the starting line for the final is huge - we’re fighting for everything right now.

“It’s just about getting us there initially, then really trying to fight to win.”