Major changes for Spanish SailGP team

With three events remaining for SailGP’s third season, the crew on the Spain SailGP Team has been revised in hopes of improving their performance.

Olympian Diego Botin – previously the team’s flight controller – will now assume the role of driver, working closely with Florian Trittel who will continue his role of wing trimmer.

Botin, now 29 years old, finished fourth in the Men’s skiff (49er) event at Tokyo 2020 while the 28 year old Trittel finished sixth in the Mixed Multihull (Nacra 17) event.

Joel Rodriguez – the Spanish team grinder – will take over Botin’s role. In a further bid to strengthen the team, Australian James Wierzbowski – a multidisciplinary athlete who has experience as both flight controller and grinder across a multitude of SailGP teams over the three seasons – will also join the team in Sydney.

As part of the internal restructure, Jordi Xammar will step down from his role as driver to make way for Botin. Spain SailGP Team CEO Maria del Mar de Ros will also depart her role. Botin and Trittel will take over management responsibility for the sports team while Marc Masagué will continue as Commercial Director.

For the next event in Australia on February 18-19, the team line up will comprise of Diego Botin (Driver), Florian Trittel (Wing Trimmer), Joel Rodriguez (Flight Controller), Joan Cardona (Tactician & Grinder), Jake Lilley (Grinder), Nicole Van der Velden (Strategist) and James Wierzbowski (Grinder / Flight Controller).

The Spanish team joined SailGP for the second season with high hopes as Xammar had been dominant in the 470 Class as he redefined offwind kinetics. Despite light air at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, he secured a bronze medal.

While Xammar was training for the 2020 Olympics, the team recruited Kiwi Phil Robertson as helm. Robertson had success driving the Chinese boat in Season 1, and he had the Spanish in fourth place heading into the final event of Season 2.

However, Robertson was surprisingly removed from the team for that event, with Xammar taking over the helm. The switch did not go well, as Spain finished last in the Season 2 finale, and currently only have the Swiss team behind them in Season 3.

Xammar is teamed with Nora Brugman as they pursue the new Mixed Two Person Dinghy (470) event for the Paris 2024 Olympics.

SailGP information – Australia details – Season 3 scoreboard – YouTube – How to watch

Season Three Standings (after eight of 11 events)
1. Australia (Tom Slingsby), 68 points
2. New Zealand (Peter Burling), 59 points
3. Great Britain (Ben Ainslie), 54 points
4. France (Quintin Delapierre), 53 points
5. Denmark (Nicolai Sehested), 51 points
6. Canada (Phil Robertson), 45 points
7. United States (Jimmy Spithill), 43 points
8. Spain (Jordi Xammar/Diego Botin), 24 points
9. Switzerland (Sebastien Schneiter), 23 points

PENALTIES
• Spain SailGP Team: Docked two points in Season Championship for four-point penalty at Plymouth
• Switzerland SailGP Team: Docked two points in Season Championship for four-point penalty at Saint-Tropez
• United Stated SailGP Team: Docked four points in Season Championship for eight-point penalty at Saint-Tropez
• New Zealand SailGP Team: Docked two points in Season Championship for four-point penalty at Dubai; Docked two points in Season Championship for four-point penalty at Singapore

2022-23 SailGP Season 3 Schedule
May 14-15, 2022 – Bermuda Sail Grand Prix presented by Hamilton Princess
June 18-19, 2022 – United States Sail Grand Prix | Chicago at Navy Pier
July 30-31, 2022 – Great Britain Sail Grand Prix | Plymouth
August 19-20, 2022 – ROCKWOOL Denmark Sail Grand Prix | Copenhagen
September 10-11, 2022 – France Sail Grand Prix | Saint-Tropez
September 24-25, 2022 – Spain Sail Grand Prix | Andalucía – Cádiz
November 12-13, 2022 – Dubai Sail Grand Prix presented by P&O Marinas
January 14-15, 2023 – Singapore Sail Grand Prix
February 18-19, 2023 – Australia Sail Grand Prix | Sydney
March 18-19, 2023 – New Zealand Sail Grand Prix | Christchurch
May 6-7, 2023 – United States Sail Grand Prix | San Francisco (Season 3 Grand Final)

Format for 2022-23 SailGP events:
• Teams compete in identical F50 catamarans.
• Each event runs across two days.
• There are three qualifying races each day for all nine teams.*
• The top three teams from qualifying advance to a final race to be crowned event champion and earn the largest share of the $300,000 prize money to be split among the top three teams.
• The season ends with the Grand Final, which includes the Championship Final Race – a winner-takes-all match race for the $1m prize.
* Qualifying schedule increased from five to six races at France SailGP.

For competition documents, click here.

Established in 2018, SailGP seeks to be an annual, global sports league featuring fan-centric inshore racing in some of the iconic harbors around the globe. Rival national teams compete in identical F50 catamarans for event prize money as the season culminates with a $1 million winner-takes-all match race.

Source: SailGP, Scuttlebutt