The last 18 months of restrictions due to the covid pandemic created some significant challenges for the FAI/SGP 10^th series. In 2020 most scheduled events were postponed until 2021 with the anticipation of being able to complete the series in preparation for the final at St Auban in September 2021.

The continuing restrictions for 2021 cast a shadow over the events planned for 2021 and raised doubt about there being enough competitors to maintain a high standard for the final. The anticipation of cancelled events proved correct with eventually four of the national events being cancelled. This was a huge disappointment for the pilots and organisers who had gone to great effort to try and hold the events.

To enable early decisions and planning for the final to go ahead the FAI/SGP team in conjunction with the FFVP decided that each of the cancelled events should be allowed to nominate pilots for the final and the organisers would automatically be accepted to hold an 11^th series event.

Joining the 10 pilots who qualified from the events that took place are 8 pilots invited by the cancelled event organisers and the SGP team, the reigning champion and a wild card entry for the host country. 

We are pleased to announce there are 20 pilots accepted to compete in the 10^th final from 10 countries. We are looking forward to a very competitive and exciting final in September!