INEOS Britannia, the British Challenger of Record racing for the Royal Yacht Squadron Ltd in the 37th America’s Cup, has ended the Round Robin stage of the Louis Vuitton Cup on the top of the leaderboard.
Ben Ainslie’s British team won its final scheduled race against Orient Express Racing Team (FRA) this afternoon, which tied them on points with the Italians, Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli. The two teams then entered into a “Sail-Off” to see who would end up in first place and therefore have the privilege of picking their opponent, entry side and race number in the Semi-Final of the Louis Vuitton Cup. INEOS Britannia dominated the race against the Italians to secure the race win and top spot of the leaderboard. The Semi-Final of the Louis Vuitton Cup, which determines which team takes on Defender Emirates Team New Zealand in the 37th America’s Cup Match, begins on Saturday.
INEOS Britannia Team Principal and Skipper Ben Ainslie said: “The team did a great job digging deep through the Preliminary Regatta and this Round Robin and taking learnings from all those races. Our performance recently is a real credit to the team, and not just those on the water, but those back at the base in Barcelona and back in the UK – all the hard work is paying off. We said all along, the America’s Cup is a development game and we started off a little bit rusty in the Preliminary Regatta and the beginning of this Round Robin stage, but every day we sail this boat we are getting better and better and I think we’ve got a great package, but there is still a long way to go.”
After a delayed start, the race against the French got underway in testing, light air conditions, with plenty of pressure on the Helms and Trimmers to keep the boat on the foils. Ben Ainslie and his crew got the best of the start, separated well to windward of the French boat and a couple of knots quicker. The extra speed quickly converted to a lead that gave the British boat control as they got to the boundary. When the French boat tacked, INEOS Britannia was able to tack between them and the breeze and throttle off their power supply.
By the first gate, the British had a lead of 25 seconds, and quickly extended that downwind. The breeze softened significantly a couple of times, but the INEOS Britannia crew sailed beautifully to keep the boat foiling. Eventually, it was France that had the touchdown, dropping back several hundred meters before they could get the boat stabilised and back in the air. The sixth win for INEOS Britannia was confirmed soon after as they crossed the line in style. The win for the Brits in turn knocked the French out of the competition. Orient Express Racing Team was hoping to win the race against the British, and have Alinghi Red Bull Racing lose their race against the Italians to be level on points and then have a sail-off for the fourth and final spot in the Semi-Finals.
Just minutes after the British and French race, Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli (ITA) was forced to pull out of their race against Alinghi Red Bull Racing (SUI) with a jammed starboard foil arm. It gifted the race to the Swiss and left the Italians tied with the British, activating a sail-off.
The sail-off started right after the final scheduled race of the Round Robin, in which New Zealand beat the USA. The pre-start was a repeat of the first race of the day. Luna Rossa went back to the start line early giving themselves a lot of time to kill, and INEOS Britannia were able to again, start well separated to the right of their opponent, with more speed.
Ben Ainslie and his crew edged out into a controlling position by the first tack and were able to make the Italians suffer up the beat, just as they had done with the French. The deficit at the first gate was 18 seconds, and from there it was all about the British boat.
The team sailed flawlessly around three laps and six legs. At the end of the first lap the advantage was 29 seconds, at the end of the second it was 49 seconds. The Italians had a good final upwind, pulling back 12 seconds, but a safe final leg saw INEOS Britannia home with a solid 42-second win, victory in the Round Robin and the right to choose their Semi-Final opponent.
INEOS Britannia Co-Helm Dylan Fletcher said: “To get another race against Luna Rossa and another win is very good for the team. We feel like we are building some solid momentum so we will aim to continue that for the Semi-Final. The boat speeds between teams have been quite close and everyone has their ideal conditions, I’m sure all the boats will be getting faster so we just need to keep our head down and work on our areas to come out fighting in the Semi-Final.”
The Louis Vuitton Cup Semi-Final kicks off on Saturday 14 September. INEOS Britannia will announce which team they have chosen to race at the pre-event Press Conference on Friday. The teams the Brits have to choose from are: Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli (ITA), New York Yacht Club American Magic (USA) and Alinghi Red Bull Racing (SUI). The first team to win five races, and score five points, in each pairing will progress to the Final (26 Sept-7 October), with the winning team of that match going on to face Defender Emirates Team New Zealand in the 37th America’s Cup Match (12-27 October). UK viewers can watch all races live on TNT Sports from 13:00 BST (14:00 CEST) each race day.
