Danes sprint past Brazilians to top Geneva SailGP standings

ROCKWOOL Racing sits atop the Group A standings at the Rolex Switzerland Sail Grand Prix after a hard-fought opening day of racing on Lake Geneva.

The Danish crew didn't have it easy from the start. A fifth-place finish in Race 1 left plenty of room for improvement, and they found it in Race 2, clawing back to take a hard-fought win that put them top of the Group A leaderboard heading into Sunday.

That second race turned into a proper scrap. ROCKWOOL and Mubadala Brazil fought for priority at the final turning mark before trading blows all the way to the line, with the Danes edging it in a straight sprint to the finish.

Driver Nicolai Sehested didn't hide his frustration with the opening race. "Race 1 was really frustrating, we ended up getting tangled with the Americans, and ended up luffed head to wind. I'm not sure why they were so keen to stop us, but they got us!"

The second race told a different story. "The second race was more like it, we got a little bit ahead at the start and life is a lot easier when you get away," he said.

Sehested flagged starts as the priority heading into Sunday. "We'll go back and look at the starting. As you can see, it's pretty tricky out there, and very difficult to know the best plan. I'm not sure anyone really knows their starting strategy out there, so we will focus on that tonight, as in these conditions, it decides the race."

That result puts ROCKWOOL Racing in a solid spot for the final day of competition, with the team eyeing another event final appearance.

Artemis sits second in Group A alongside ROCKWOOL. Over in Group B, BONDS Flying Roos and Black Foils lead the way. Two boats from each group will progress through to Sunday's event final.

The Geneva form continues a strong run for ROCKWOOL Racing, which arrived in Switzerland off the back of its best result of the season in Valencia, where the team reached an event final for the first time since June 2024.

Racing resumes in Geneva on Sunday, 20 September, with another light day forecast on the lake. For ROCKWOOL, it's a chance to convert a promising start into the result that's eluded them for over a year.