Delapierre steers French cat toward a spot in SailGP’s $2 million, winner-take-all Grand Final

Quentin Delapierre skippered France to finishes of 1-3-3 in a remarkable performance Saturday on San Francisco Bay to move close to advancing to SailGP’s $2 million, winner-take-all Grand Final, the biggest payday in sailing.

Three-time defending SailGP champion Tom Slingsby steered Australia’s Flying Roo 50-foot foiling catamaran to finishes of 5-1-8 to all but assure a spot Sunday in the Grand Final, which will follow the conclusion of the San Francisco regatta.

Peter Burling and the Team New Zealand Black Foils have already secured a spot in the Grand Final after winning five of the previous 12 regattas in Season 4 of tech billionaire Larry Ellison’s global league. The Kiwis finished fourth in all three fleet races and simply need to get through Sunday’s fleet racing in one piece and with no major penalties to move on to the start line of the Grand Final.

Delapierre needs to leapfrog Spain’s Diego Botin in the season standings to reach the three-boat Grand Final. He’s on track after he and his crew had great starts and expertly sailed their catamaran around the course.

Botin came into this regatta in third place overall, five points ahead of Delapierre. But he struggled in the strong wind and had finishes of 7-6-5 to sit in seventh place in the regatta.

Slingsby won all three previous three SailGP championship races on San Francisco Bay. The prize money was doubled this season from the previous $1 million. San Francisco Bay is also where Slingsby helped Ellison’s Oracle Team USA stage a stunning rally against Emirates Team New Zealand to defend the America’s Cup in 2013.

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Bernie Wilson has covered sailing for the AP since 1991.

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By BERNIE WILSON
AP Sports Writer