Australia driver Tom Slingsby has said ‘every race counts’ in New York as the triple SailGP champions battle to reach their fourth Grand Final.
Despite topping the Season 4 leaderboard for most of the season, the Aussies lost the lead to New Zealand after Christchurch and slipped down to third after a disastrous 8th place finish in Halifax.
Now one point behind Spain in 2nd and six and seven points ahead of France and ROCKWOOL DEN respectively, Australia face a battle in New York to stay in the top three.
Speaking at the pre-event press conference, Slingsby acknowledged Australia was in a ‘tight’ position.
“For three seasons straight, we’ve won the season points score and gone into the Grand Final with a comfortable buffer and this is the first time we don’t have that comfort,” he said.
However, being under pressure ahead of San Francisco is ‘exciting’, he said. “For sure there’s more adrenaline and there’s more on the line knowing that every race counts.’
He emphasized his ‘confidence’ in the team and the whole crew’s ability to ‘perform under pressure’.
“We’ve won three Grand Finals before - these 15 minute shootouts with everything on the line - and we’ve just got to rise to the pressure again - we have in the past and we will again here.”
The Mubadala New York Sail Grand Prix takes place on June 22/23, with racing from 4.30pm ET.
