(Reuters) – Defending series champions Spain looked dominant in the second day of the fifth round of SailGP season on Sunday as skipper Diego Botin steered his team to victory over Canada and France in an exciting final in sunny San Francisco bay.
It was the Spaniards’ first victory of the season, winning two out of seven races in the weekend, to repeat last season’s final round triumph on the same course were they were crowned champions.
France had nailed the start of the final, leading towards mark number one, but Spain quickly rallied to take the lead on the third leg as they split the course at gate two, leaving Quentin Delapierre’s boat behind in third.
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Giles Scott’s Canada seemed poised to repeat last week’s Los Angeles victory after winning two races on the opening day but ultimately settled for second place.
Australia, who finished third overall after the fleet races, saw their final hopes shattered in race seven when their boat’s wing collapsed after a collision with Italy, allowing fourth-placed France to take their spot in the decisive race.
“It’s a bit of shock, obviously. A very scary situation,” Australian driver Tom Slingsby said.
“Fortunately, we’re all safe, that’s the first priority. Now we’ve just got to try and save the boat as best we can.”
Despite the heavy blow, the three-times champions moved top of the championship table with 39 points, one point ahead of Britain, who ended seventh as they could not bounce back after splashing down in the sixth race.
Slow starts on day one and another setback in the first race of day two left Peter Burling’s New Zealand in fifth place, ahead of Switzerland, who struggled to capitalise on their lone win in race five.
Home favourites United States capped a disappointing weekend with an 11th-place finish, failing to score any points after struggling to recover from a challenging first day.
(Reporting by Janina Nuno Rios in Mexico City; Editing by Stephen Coates)
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