​​Red Bull Italy book their first final as Slingsby scrapes BONDS Flying Roos through

Sunday 6 September, Group A, Race 4 — Phil Robertson has done nothing but win when it's mattered all weekend, and Race 4 was no different. Red Bull Italy led from the front to seal their first event final as a squad, three wins from four races in Group A. Behind them, the second qualifying spot came down to a duel between Tom Slingsby and Nathan Outteridge that wasn't decided until the final approach to the line, and it very nearly went the other way entirely. With Sunday's Race 5 cancelled due to bad weather, this result now stands as final for the group.

Italy do it again

Robertson's crew were never seriously troubled. Italy popped onto the foils cleanly and sailed away from the fleet, textbook enough that the broadcast team described the boat as relaxed all the way to the finish, the kind of race where a lead built early just keeps building. It's Italy's third win in four races in Valencia, backing up their opening-day victory, and puts them top of Group A on 15 points, the first team through to Sunday's final.

"It's pretty cool, it's our first final as a squad," Robertson said afterwards. "It just sort of validates all the hard work this whole squad's been putting in the background." It's a first SailGP final for the New Zealander too, one of several Kiwis spread across the fleet this weekend rather than sailing for the Black Foils, and a result that will get plenty of attention back home.

Emirates GBR played the conditions well to move into second for a stretch of the race, reading a right-hand shift that had worked for other boats in earlier races and using it to gain a full leg on Artemis in the process. It wasn't enough. GBR crossed second on the water but finished the group stage in third overall, one point shy of the spot they needed.

Slingsby and Outteridge, mates and rivals, fight it out

BONDS Flying Roos and Artemis went into the final leg of the race with the second qualifying spot on the line between them, Tom Slingsby and Nathan Outteridge, close friends off the water and, in this moment, direct rivals for it. Outteridge had the overlap at the top of the last mark and looked to have a shot at the inside line. Slingsby held his speed, found a patch of pressure at exactly the right moment, and used it to solidify the cross rather than concede it.

From there it was about who could complete the fewer, cleaner manoeuvres to the finish. Artemis needed two clean ones in a row to get home ahead. BONDS Flying Roos needed one. Slingsby got it, crossing fifth, his team's worst result of the day and, by his own team's admission afterwards, not the way they usually do it.

"I don't think there's a scenario Tom Slingsby hasn't seen in SailGP," was how the broadcast team put it. "Normally he's scraping in with a last-minute win rather than a last-minute save for a fifth. But he'll take it."

Black Foils held on for third, their best result of the event in conditions that have generally not suited them all weekend. Explora Journeys Swiss, under three-time Olympian Sébastien Schneiter, closed out their group stage with fourth. Mubadala Brazil finished sixth.

Artemis miss out by the smallest of margins

For Nathan Outteridge's crew, it's a cruel way to end a weekend that started with a broken jib halyard ruling them out of Race 1 altogether and somehow still had them in genuine contention for a final spot going into the last leg of the last race. They couldn't find the speed or the pressure when it mattered, finished seventh, and with it their tournament ends in Valencia.

Where this leaves Group A

Red Bull Italy top the group on 15 points, BONDS Flying Roos through in second on 12, and with Sunday's Race 5 washed out by the same weather that made every race in Valencia a fight, this is now the group's final shape rather than a picture still to be settled. It's a group Emirates GBR will feel got away from them by the narrowest possible margin, one point separating a place in Sunday's final from an early flight home, with no second race left to close the gap. Across the whole event, eight pool races were sailed in Valencia between both groups, and five different teams won one. Nobody has had it entirely their own way in these conditions, which makes Italy's three wins from four all the more of a statement heading into the final.

Result

Race 4 result (Group A): 1. Red Bull Italy (Phil Robertson), 2. Emirates Great Britain (Dylan Fletcher), 3. Black Foils (Peter Burling), 4. Explora Journeys Swiss (Sébastien Schneiter), 5. BONDS Flying Roos (Tom Slingsby), 6. Mubadala Brazil (Martine Grael), 7. Artemis (Nathan Outteridge)

Final Group A standings: 1. Red Bull Italy 15pts (through to the final), 2. BONDS Flying Roos 12pts (through to the final), 3. Emirates Great Britain 11pts, 4. Explora Journeys Swiss 8pts, 5. Artemis 6pts, 6. Black Foils 5pts, 7. Mubadala Brazil 3pts