Rolex SailGP Championship will debut this weekend in Auckland

New Zealand SailGP Team helmed by Peter Burling testing the light winds T-Foil after practice racing ahead of The Rolex SailGP Championship ITM New Zealand Sail Grand Prix in Auckland, New Zealand © Ricardo Pinto for SailGP

The Rolex SailGP Championship will debut in front of its largest ticketed crowd this weekend, as the ITM New Zealand Sail Grand Prix touches down in Auckland (January 18-19, 2025).

A cheering crowd of 25,000 fans are set to watch from the inner-city Race Stadium and sold-out spectator fleet.

The Auckland course is the shortest on the 2025 Season Calendar, and with gusty, top-end conditions on the forecast, teams will have plenty to prepare for as the global racing championship rolls out new high-speed titanium "T-Foils'' for the first time in racing.

Heading into the weekend first on the leaderboard, hometown favorite Peter Burling - driver for the Black Foils (New Zealand SailGP Team) - said, "The forecast is playing its part and this stadium behind us is doing its bit too. All the teams are super excited to get out there. We've got the new T-Foils, new configurations, so that throws some uncertainty on who the favorites are, but it's looking like a nice windy weekend. There's going to be a lot of foiling and high-speed action."

11 national teams will go head to head in the 'City of Sails' - with France once again sitting out the competition after the discovery of an issue in the wingsail of the team's new F50 catamaran 'Boat 12.' France will be awarded five points for the Auckland event, with more details to follow in the coming weeks.

Hannah Mills, strategist for the Emirates Great Britain SailGP Team said, "The racing with 11 boats this weekend could be carnage. It's all lining up to be pretty interesting - short course, looks breezy, new T-Foils, a lot of learning and more mistakes we're used to seeing. For the strategists it's going to be eyes out more than normal."

With T-Foils introducing a new learning curve, Mills anticipated some teams might find themselves 'caught out' by the tech. "You're adding a third dimension to the flight controller and what you can do with the foil," she said. "The acceleration and deceleration is a lot faster. I think it's going to catch out a few teams."

Teams have had an extended training period this week in Auckland, with the Mubadala Brazil SailGP Team in particular showing signs of promise ahead of their second event, finishing second to the Australia SailGP Team in two of today's practice races (in a reduced fleet). The Mubadala Brazil SailGP Team is led by two-time Olympic gold medalist Martine Grael - SailGP's first female driver. Flight controller Andy Maloney joined the team amidst a busy transfer season, swapping sides from one of the Rolex SailGP Championship's most dominant teams, New Zealand.

Downplaying any hard feelings between him and his former teammates, Maloney said, "Pete [Burling] and Blair [Tuke] were super supportive throughout the entire decision making process. They're two of my best mates who I go to for advice on all of these big decisions in life. The Black Foils will always be my family but right now I'm here working hard for the Brazilian team trying to get them to the front of the league."

The most exciting racing on water returns tomorrow - Saturday 18 January (NZT) - with live racing beginning at 4 p.m. local time. A handful of tickets remain for both days, available for purchase at SailGP.com/Auckland