Members of the New Zealand team celebrate after winning the race.
The Rolex SailGP Championship’s season-opening event ended with British music star Craig David thrilling fans with an epic performance in the Waterfront Premium Lounge presented by Nikki Beach after New Zealand won the Emirates Dubai Sail Grand Prix for a second consecutive season.
For the first time, Dubai’s Port Rashid played host to SailGP’s 2025 2025 season opener, which will conclude in Abu Dhabi next November as the UAE plays a prominent role in the calendar.
Picking up where they left off in January, Peter Burling’s ‘Black Foils’ have claimed their third consecutive win in the UAE, soaring ahead of the Emirates Great Britain team and US SailGP.
It marks the second consecutive win for Burling’s Kiwi crew in Dubai, with the team also claiming the win here last season.
The Black Foils executed a perfect start to storm ahead of the Americans and British team, but the race was far from won — with multiple lead changes to come.
New Zealand driver Burling said: ‘We seem to love these Middle Eastern events – that’s three on the trot now for us in this part of the world, so we’re definitely quite excited about the grand final being in a different spot, it’s a change of scenery and we’ll definitely be trying to make sure we can take a win in Abu Dhabi.’
‘Auckland (next race) — super excited to get home, the buzz in town is already growing. The renders of the grandstand, which is just about to get built, are just amazing. So, for any Kiwis who have not bought tickets yet, it’s going to be an amazing weekend.’
SailGP Sir Russell Coutts, CEO, said: ‘We couldn’t have asked for a better day of racing for Championship Sunday in Dubai. An enormous congratulations to our event winners New Zealand, as well as our new teams competing for the very first time, Red Bull Italy and Mubadala Brazil.’
‘To our partners and fans in the UAE, thank you for your ongoing support and for coming down to Mina Rashid to cheer on our 12 national teams, close to shore. We’ll be back in just over 11 months’ time, when the race for the Rolex SailGP Championship comes to a close in Abu Dhabi.’
