New Zealand claims first wind of 2025 SailGP season in Dubai

New Zealand has planted its flag in the 2025 Season, beating Emirates GBR and the United States to claim a dominant win in Dubai.

It marks the second consecutive win for Peter Burling’s Kiwi crew in Dubai, with the team also claiming the win here in Season 4. The Black Foils executed a perfect start to streak ahead of the Americans and British, but the race was far from won - with multiple lead changes to come.

The teams split the course at gate 2, with the Kiwis and British take the left side and the United States claiming the right. The move paid off for the Americans, who managed to rise onto the foils and take the lead on the third leg.

Shifty conditions continued to play havoc with teams’ strategies, with all three teams jostling for position at the third gate. But a boundary penalty proved costly for the Americans, who were forced to drop 60m behind Emirates GBR. New Zealand came back strong, diving inside Emirates GBR at the forth gate to take the lead and maneuver away in a move green flagged by the umpires.

From there, the Kiwis stretched ahead, finding clear space and clean air away from Emirates GBR and the United States to cross the line in first.

A dramatic last minute incident unfolded in the final stages of the race when the United States attempted to dive inside the British at the mark rounding to claim second, but the move earned the team a penalty, handing second place back to Emirates GBR, with the Americans taking third overall.

The Kiwis victory sees them rebound from the off-season transfer period, which saw Burling lose long-time flight controller Andy Maloney to Brazil. Leo Takahashi has stepped into his role and topped his racing debut off with a win.

Emirates GBR’s second place finish is a solid result for the team, which raced with new driver Dylan Fletcher in Dubai. Reflecting on the event, Fletcher said he was ‘definitely the weak link’ of the team and promised to ‘sharpen up’ ahead of the second event in Auckland, New Zealand.

Elsewhere, fleet racing culminated in a tense battle for teams gunning to make the Final, with Spain and Australia also in contention. But mistakes from both teams in the fifth fleet race saw their chances slip away, leaving the teams to finish the event in 4th and 5th respectively.

Dubai also saw the racing debuts of new teams Mubadala Brazil and Red Bull Italy, which unsurprisingly struggled in their first events to finish 10th and 11th respectively. SailGP’s new scoring system for this season means the Italians will finish the event with 0 points, while the Brazilian pick up 1.

Over the two days of racing, five different teams took the wins of the five Fleet Races; the United States, Germany, Australia, New Zealand and ROCKWOOL Racing.