Email Print America’s Cup win for Ainslie in Oman29 Feb 2016Sir Ben Ainslie and the Land Rover BAR team – victorious in OmanAINSLIE TRIUMPHS: Sir Ben Ainslie has led the Land Rover BAR team to victory at the America’s Cup World Series in Oman, beating former skipper Jimmy Spithill and ORACLE TEAM USA into second place.Despite a poor start in race four and penalties in five and six, Ainslie, the most decorated Olympic sailor in history, skippered the team to a two point win, bringing BAR to within just one point of their second place rival, ORACLE TEAM USA, in the overall placings.This is the first win for the team since securing victory on home waters in Portsmouth last summer, and Ainslie sees the result as evidence that the team is finding its form.“We kept fighting through today,” he said. “Compared to the teams with established track records, we need to prove we can compete at the top of the fleet and I think we are getting back to doing that.”“We have a big team of designers, boat builders and support staff back at home working very hard for us and they want to know that we can win this thing,” he added.The second place result was a fourth consecutive podium finish for the US team but it has yet to take the top spot.“It’s good to be on the podium. We’re one of only two teams to have been on the podium at each event. But we want to win. There’s no two ways about it,” said US team skipper Spithill.Emirates Team New Zealand secured third place, retaining its place at the top of the overall leaderboard, although ORACLE TEAM USA in second has closed the gap to just six points.The Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series Oman marked the first America’s Cup sailing in the middle east and was a milestone event for the host, Oman Sail.Full results can be found on the America’s Cup website.

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