Spain leads Sydney Race 3 from start to finish with top foiling efficiency

Race 3 in Sydney delivered one of the most chaotic starts of the weekend, with a shifting breeze, unstable pressure and a wave of early penalties scrambling the fleet well before anyone reached the first mark.

The trouble started almost immediately. Denmark and Australia were called OCS, Germany was forced to restart, and both Canada and Brazil collected boundary infringement penalties before the race had properly taken shape. In conditions as marginal as these, a clean start was not merely an advantage. It was everything.

Spain read the situation well. Rather than fighting for position at the congested top end of the box, the Spanish crew approached the line with patience and precision, threading through a late opening and accelerating cleanly away. They rounded Mark 1 in the lead, with Italy, Sweden and Canada in pursuit but already giving ground. Australia and Denmark were buried more than a minute back, their penalties having done damage that the unstable breeze would make nearly impossible to undo.

The opening upwind leg only widened the gap. Spain prioritised keeping the boat airborne above all else, and the numbers told the story. Their ride time of 73 percent was the highest recorded across the entire fleet, even if their maximum speed of 58.4 km/h was not the outright fastest on the water. Every moment spent airborne rather than splashing down translated directly into time gained. Sweden managed 57 percent ride time, Italy 55 percent, and the USA 57 percent. Denmark, despite recording 62 percent, could not claw back the ground lost at the start. In these conditions, each splashdown compounded the margin.

Penalties continued to shape the race through the middle legs. Brazil and Denmark each picked up further boundary infringements, Canada was penalised at Mark 2, and Great Britain lodged protests, though none of it brought them into genuine podium contention. At Mark 3, the top three had separated themselves from the rest. Sweden and Italy were split by only seconds but had no answer for Spain, who kept choosing cleaner lanes and resisted any temptation to trade foiling stability for cross-course aggression.

Spain carried that control all the way to the finish, crossing the line in a race time of 9:37.734. Sweden claimed second after a tight contest with Italy, who took third. Great Britain came home fourth, Brazil fifth, and Australia recovered to sixth. The USA and Denmark rounded out the fleet.

Race 3 was defined by sustained foiling efficiency and disciplined execution. Spain's consistency through Sydney's unstable conditions strengthened their position heading into the remaining races.

Three races down, one to go.

Results for 2026 SailGP 2026 Race 3

PENALTIES & NOTES

• Black Foils to miss KPMG Sydney Sail Grand Prix due to F50 damage suffered in collision with DS Automobiles Team France at ITM New Zealand Sail Grand Prix | Auckland

• DS Automobiles Team France to miss KPMG Sydney Sail Grand Prix due to F50 damage suffered in collision with Black Foils at ITM New Zealand Sail Grand Prix | Auckland

Event results after Race 3