Racing

Race To Abu Dhabi Tightens As SailGP Enters Final Stretch

By Sailing Times Newsroom·16 September 2026·4 min read

With three events remaining in the 2026 Rolex SailGP Championship, the race to the Grand Final in Abu Dhabi is intensifying. Eleven of the 13 SailGP teams remain mathematically in contention for the season’s winner-takes-all prize, barring penalties.

Australia’s Bonds Flying Roos sit atop the leaderboard with 85 points, well clear of Spain’s Los Gallos in second with 68. The battle for the crucial third Grand Final spot remains wide open. The U.S. SailGP Team’s recent rise to third place in Sassnitz was the latest shift in that fight, putting the Americans on 56 points, one ahead of fourth-place Artemis on 55 and five clear of fifth-place Emirates GBR on 51.

The 2026 Rolex SailGP Championship will culminate in a winner-takes-all Grand Final at the end of November, contested by the top three teams on the season leaderboard. Points at each event are awarded to the top ten finishers across a series of fleet races, and those results accumulate into the overall championship standings. The Mubadala Abu Dhabi Sail Grand Prix presented by the Abu Dhabi Sports Council runs November 28 and 29, with fleet racing across both days setting the final standings before the top three advance to the Grand Final itself. The remaining events in Geneva, Dubai and Abu Dhabi each offer a chance to gain ground, or to watch a Grand Final place slip away.

Australia has won five of the ten events held this season and remains the only team to have qualified for every Grand Final since the championship began in 2019, having already claimed three of the five titles awarded so far. Led by driver and Olympic gold medalist Tom Slingsby, the Flying Roos have already secured their Grand Final berth and enter the closing stretch firmly in control of their own destiny.

Los Gallos have established themselves as Australia’s closest challenger. Driven by Paris 2024 Olympic gold medalist Diego Botin, the Spanish team has found form at the right moment, winning in Halifax in June and Portsmouth in July before finishing runner-up in Sassnitz last month. The 2024 champions hold a 12 point cushion over the third-place U.S. SailGP Team.

Below the top two, only five points separate third from fifth, leaving three teams within striking distance of the final Grand Final berth. The U.S. team, which finished last on the 2025 leaderboard, has capitalized on light-wind conditions this season to record two event wins for the first time, in Sydney and Valencia, as it chases a first Grand Final appearance since 2022. The team will compete in Geneva without driver Taylor Canfield and Harry Melges IV, both recovering from injuries.

Artemis, driven by Nathan Outteridge, has impressed in its debut season but is still searching for a first event win. Beyond SailGP’s inaugural season, no team has reached the Grand Final in its first year in the league. DS Automobiles France and Canada’s NorthStar SailGP Team remain firmly in the fight despite ground to make up: France set a new SailGP speed record of 107.63 km/h in Sassnitz, while NorthStar has reached three of the last five event finals.

Germany by Deutsche Bank (35), Denmark’s ROCKWOOL Racing (32), Explora Journeys Swiss (32) and Red Bull Italy (30) face a steep climb but remain mathematically alive. New Zealand’s Black Foils, three-time consecutive Grand Finalists sitting on 21 points, and Mubadala Brazil on 8 points have been eliminated from contention.

A total of $3.2 million is up for grabs across Grand Final weekend in Abu Dhabi, including $800,000 for the event winner, $400,000 for the season points winner and $2 million for the winner of the Grand Final race itself.

The next stop on the calendar is the Rolex Switzerland Sail Grand Prix in Geneva on September 19 and 20, marking SailGP’s second consecutive year on Lake Geneva and the final event of its European swing before the season enters its decisive final stretch.