Halifax arrives at an important moment for the French squad. Currently placed fifth in the overall standings, DS Automobiles SailGP Team France heads to the ROCKWOOL Canada Sail Grand Prix in Halifax, Nova Scotia, with a clear appetite to close ground on the teams ahead. The 2026 Rolex SailGP Championship title race is among the tightest the competition has produced, with only a handful of points dividing several teams in the upper reaches of the table.
The French team's preparation for the weekend has been shaped above all by one piece of news: the return of strategist Manon Audinet to the F50. Audinet has been absent since suffering an injury during the Auckland incident earlier in the season, and her rehabilitation has kept her off the water for months. Her comeback, timed for what is expected to be one of the most physically demanding stops of the year, restores the team's preferred racing configuration at exactly the moment they need it most.
"I'm really happy to be back with the team and back on the boat. I've done everything I could during my recovery to be ready for this moment and I'm feeling good heading into the weekend. Halifax is a venue we enjoy and the forecast looks pretty windy, which is exactly the type of sailing we love. Most of all, I'm excited to be racing with the team again."
Amélie Riou will travel with the team as reserve athlete.
Alongside Audinet, wing trimmer Enzo Balanger returns to the line-up for his second SailGP appearance. His debut in New York was an encouraging one, with DS Automobiles SailGP Team France finishing fourth overall at that event. Since then, Balanger has added further silverware to a rapidly growing palmares, taking victory at the 2026 European Moth Championship to follow his 2025 Moth World Championship title. Halifax offers the young Frenchman another stage on which to extend his experience aboard the F50, and the team will be hoping his form carries over from the foiling circuit.
Halifax itself is shaping up to deliver a memorable weekend of racing. Now hosting its second SailGP event, the Nova Scotia venue has already earned a reputation as one of the most popular fixtures on the calendar, with this year's edition sold out well before race day. The waterfront setting frames a racecourse that tests every team with compressed racing lanes, variable breeze, tidal currents, and the reliably cool conditions of the Atlantic seaboard. Wind forecasts for the weekend point to some of the strongest conditions seen so far in the 2026 season, raising the prospect of high-speed, high-stakes sailing from the opening race.
All 13 national teams will contest the weekend, a number that becomes significant in itself. Halifax marks the return to competition of New Zealand's Black Foils, absent from the fleet since their dramatic crash in Auckland. The Kiwis spent months rebuilding their F50 and their comeback restores the full complement of teams, while also reintroducing a major contender into an already fiercely fought championship.
For DS Automobiles SailGP Team France, the equation heading into the weekend is straightforward even if the execution will not be. With Audinet back in her strategist role, Balanger accumulating race experience at the highest level, and the team regaining the stability that was disrupted by the events in Auckland, Halifax presents a genuine opportunity to move up the standings and keep alive their ambitions of finishing inside the top three and reaching the SailGP Grand Final.
