France SailGP Team

Quentin Delapierre drives the France SailGP Team while simultaneously leading K-Challenge's 38th America's Cup campaign. His Nacra 17 multihull background translates well to the F50, and the French team has shown increasing competitiveness through recent SailGP seasons.

France has perhaps the deepest sailing talent pool in the world, with a culture that produces champions across every format from Olympic dinghy classes to solo transatlantic racing. The French sailing federation's investment in youth development creates a pipeline of skilled sailors, and Delapierre draws from this pool for his SailGP crew.

The home event in Saint-Tropez in September gives the French team a significant advantage. The Gulf of Saint-Tropez's thermal breeze patterns are well known to French sailors, and the spectator atmosphere at a SailGP event in Saint-Tropez, surrounded by the Riviera's glamour, creates a uniquely French racing experience.

Delapierre's challenge is the same as Dylan Fletcher's: managing two elite campaigns simultaneously. The SailGP calendar runs January to November, overlapping with America's Cup AC40 development and testing. The physical and mental demands of flying F50s at 50 knots one week and preparing AC40 strategy the next require an exceptional athlete and an exceptionally well-organized team.

France has produced more Vendee Globe winners than any other nation and has held the Route du Rhum IMOCA record since 2018. The SailGP France Team extends that sailing culture into the foiling inshore circuit, giving French fans a team to follow across 10 international stops each season as well as the home event in Saint-Tropez.