Los Gallos and Red Bull Italy set the pace on Valencia Opening Day
Los Gallos and Red Bull Italy set the pace on Valencia Opening Day
Los Gallos top the table after a dominant opening day in Valencia – wowing the home crowd with consecutive race wins. Red Bull Italy showed some of their best form in recent events, closing the day just one point behind the Bonds Flying Roos in Group A.
All 13 international teams battled patchy, light conditions and a tight, tactical racetrack – with those fast off the line rewarded as passing lanes behind them quickly disappeared. Every race winner on Saturday led at mark one.
Racing was again split into two groups - the league's format for the remainder of the 2026 Season - with the Bonds Flying Roos, Emirates GBR, Artemis, Red Bull Italy, Mubadala Brazil, Explora Journeys Swiss and the Black Foils in Group A, and Los Gallos, the U.S. SailGP Team, Germany by Deutsche Bank, DS Automobiles Team France, ROCKWOOL Racing and NorthStar in Group B.
Los Gallos got the perfect start in the opening race of the day (B1), and were clear within minutes – converting home advantage into an opening win. Behind them, the U.S. and ROCKWOOL filled the podium after a strong comeback from the Danes, while NorthStar were unable to recover from an early start penalty, finishing fifth.
Spanish driver Diego Botín said, “We couldn't ask to start the event better than doing it in your home event with all the crowd pushing. It felt amazing.”
In Race A1, Red Bull Italy nailed the start – leading across six-leg track to sweep over the line first ahead of the Bonds Flying Roos in second and Mubadala Brazil in third. An early-start in the same race dropped the Black Foils to the back of the fleet, while Artemis were unable to make the start line as a broken jib halyard forced a pit-lane repair.
In Group B’s second race, Los Gallos traded leads with ROCKWOOL Racing – edging the Danes by centimeters to claim their second consecutive win. The U.S. finished third, while Germany by Deutsche Bank and NorthStar struggled in fifth and sixth, respectively.
The Bonds Flying Roos claimed the win in Race A2 – a birthday victory for driver Tom Slingsby – with Emirates GBR close behind. Artemis, back after race one, banked crucial points in third.
ROCKWOOL Racing took the win in Group B’s third and final fleet race, ahead of Los Gallos in second and the U.S. SailGP Team in third. It ended a day of consistent podium results for all three teams, a welcome result for Danish driver Nicolai Sehested.
“It was nice to finally get a bit of success,” Sehested said. “I know it’s light winds, it’s easier conditions, so it’s easier to be fast. Not easy, but definitely easier. So I know there’s still a long way to go, but we’ve got to take the positives and we’re happy with our day today.”
The Danes sit second in Group B and third on the combined leaderboard with 12 points, while the U.S. SailGP Team are close behind with 10 – keeping Taylor Canfield’s American crew firmly in the hunt for a much-needed event final as the Race to Abu Dhabi surges ahead. Leading the fleet with 14 points, Spain’s chances of their first home event final are all but guaranteed barring disaster on Day 2.
It was a challenging opening day for NorthStar despite recent momentum, finishing 5, 6, 5 in qualifying fleet races. Driver Giles Scott said the team were “on the back foot” for much of the day.
“It’s quite a marginal gains day, hunting for lanes,” Scott said. “Trying to execute those marginal maneuvers, and yeah, it was tough when we were behind. It didn’t really feel like there were any passing lanes, and then when we did get ourselves back into it, we managed to create a few passing lanes for others. So yeah, a frustrating one for us, but there’s scope for us to move forward tomorrow. It’s only a couple of points up to third or fourth, so that’s kind of the goal for tomorrow for us.”
A second victory in race 3 leaves Red Bull Italy just one point behind the Roos in Group A, as Explora Journeys Swiss finished second and Artemis third.
Red Bull Italy driver Phil Robertson said, “The execution of maneuvers is so much easier when you’re in the front. Makes you look good! So yeah, getting to mark one in P1 is crucial and then you’re in clear air the whole race.”
Robertson continued, “This team’s been grafting for a long time now, and the last three months we’ve just put in a huge effort to try and get better. It’s no secret in life, the harder you work, the better you’re going to get. So we’ve been working hard and seeing big, big progress over the last few months. Not quite in the results as we would have liked it, but nice to validate today that a lot of the hard work is starting to pay off.”
Battling disturbed air, the Black Foils finished sixth – ending a disappointing day for the Kiwi crew who came away with just two points on the event leaderboard and a scorecard of 6, 4, 6.
The Spain Sail Grand Prix | Valencia returns tomorrow – Sunday September 6 – for remaining qualifying fleet races and a winner-takes-all Final. The action gets underway at 1.30 p.m. local time (CEST).
