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Land Rover BAR rules the waves at Portsmouth

24 Jul 2016

The Land Rover BAR team celebrate their win at Portsmouth

Ben Ainslie and the Land Rover BAR team have won the Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series Portsmouth event.

This year the full race schedule was completed, unlike 2015 when the last day of racing was cancelled due to weather conditions.

“I think it’s been a brilliant weekend,” said Sir Ben Ainslie, the skipper of Land Rover BAR.

“For us to race in Portsmouth, in front of our home crowd with the weather playing its part and two cracking days of racing, as a home team to win in front of our home crowd is the best thing we could do.”

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge presented the awards in front of a packed home crowd having watched the second day of racing from a Land Rover BAR support boat.

“The Duchess is Patron of our 1851 Trust and it means a lot to have them here. We are very proud of our British heritage and to have them here is very special,” explained Sir Ben.

The win puts the British team into first place on the overall Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series leaderboard, overtaking Emirates Team New Zealand who drop to third with ORACLE TEAM USA in second, Softbank Team Japan in fourth, Artemis Racing fifth and Groupama Team France in sixth.

“We’re up at the top of the leaderboard, but we have a lot of work to do before Bermuda next year, but we’re performing well and our goal is to bring the Cup home. It may take us a while but when we do, it will be the most amazing event right here in Portsmouth,” added Sir Ben.

The America’s Cup World Series action now moves on to Toulon France in September, Fukuoka, Japan in November before the final of the America’s Cup in Bermuda next year.

via Boating Business | Land Rover BAR rules the waves at Portsmouth.