Abu Dhabi gets ready to welcome SailGP to Mina Zayed Port this weekend

For the first time, Abu Dhabi will host the world’s most exciting race on water – the inaugural Mubadala Abu Dhabi Sail Grand Prix in collaboration with Abu Dhabi Sports Council, taking place over 2 days, 13 and 14 January, at Mina Zayed. Opening the event this morning at The Louvre, the world’s best athletes representing ten teams from around the globe are gearing up to unleash their prowess on the waters of Mina Zayed, Abu Dhabi’s historic port, this weekend.

Abu Dhabi will see the return of Australia driver Tom Slingsby, who missed out on Dubai for the birth of his first child. Despite not winning an event this season, Australia remains at the top of the leaderboard, followed by ROCKWOOL Denmark and New Zealand. The event will also mark the racing debut of incoming Emirates GBR driver Giles Scott, who replaces Sir Ben Ainslie with immediate effect. Scott, who has been driving team training sessions, will take charge of the team for the first time, going head-to-head against the rest of the fleet.

Not only is this a historic moment for Abu Dhabi, but also for the sport as SailGP merges sport and entertainment across the weekend. For the first time, global music superstars Take That join SailGP in the UAE for a special Saturday race day performance immediately after racing, while Sunday will host Saif and Sound, award winning DJ and one of the most established music personalities, combining high-speed action with live music entertainment to create a truly memorable fan experience.

Following the event opener at Louvre Abu Dhabi, Quentin Delapierre, France SailGP team Driver commented on the press conference; “It’s fair to say that it’s a really nice venue to be here in the Louvre dome, really special for the French like me.”

At each Sail Grand Prix, the ten national teams take part in five action-packed fleet races across the two event days, before the winner-takes-all, three-boat final on Sunday featuring the top three placed teams from the weekend. The winner of this final showdown is declared event champion and awarded 10 points in the Championship Leaderboard, which is added to a cumulative season total. The three highest ranked teams at the end of the 13-event season qualify for the SailGP Championship Grand Final, with the winner crowned SailGP Champion and taking home the $2 million prize pot – part of an overall $7 million prize pot available to the top performing teams throughout the season.

Ben Ainslie stepped down as driver of the Emirates Great Britain SailGP Team to be replaced by two-time Olympic gold medalist Giles Scott. Scott, Emirates GBR Driver said; “We had a great training day yesterday and excited for the weekend ahead. I think it’s a tricky spot to come in and take over the driver role halfway through a season and I’m certainly green and have a lot to learn and I’ve got to try and make that learning process as rapid as I can. The good news is I have an amazing team and crew and I’ll be drawing on their experience and hopefully we can turn a few heads this weekend.”

Tom Slingsby, Australia SailGP Team Driver said; “If you’re the next generation, you’ve got to prove why you’re the best in the world and knock us old guys off the perch. It’s exciting to see what’s going to happen. The new guys have the opportunity, they’re out there and have a boat to drive in SailGP, the top sailing league in the world and they’ve got to take that opportunity with both hands or they’ll be replaced.”

“We have a light wind this weekend but that racing in Dubai showed how exciting light winds can be and you can have a spectacular event even in light airs. Hopefully we have a similar exciting event this weekend.”

Sébastien Schneiter, Switzerland SailGP Team; “I think the Swiss team is in a really good place at the moment, there’s a lot of good energy in the team. Dubai was our first event with a full Swiss crew, we’re looking at the long term and investing in people for the long term.”

A number of ticket categories are available such as premier grandstand seats, which include complimentary drinks, snacks and upgraded grandstand seating. For those keen to get to the heart of the action, team base tours are available to take fans behind the scenes. Those with their own boats can enjoy on-water viewing right on the racecourse perimeter.

Due to phenomenal demand – which has seen the Waterfront Grandstand sold-out for Saturday – SailGP has released an additional Ground Admission ticket for Saturday’s racing. The limited release standing ticket – priced AED 150 for adults and AED 50 for juniors – grants access to the Race Stadium, a giant screen to view the racing and the Take That performance afterwards. To accommodate the additional fans onsite on Saturday, the SailGP Race Stadium will now open at 12.30 p.m. Last entry will be at 2 p.m.

Tickets are selling out fast – only a few hours left to secure your tickets for this must-watch event. Head to SailGP.com/AbuDhabi to purchase tickets.