New Zealand extends America's Cup lead on Britain / Photo: © AFP
New Zealand extends America's Cup lead on Britain
Double defending champions Emirates Team New Zealand extended their lead on Ineos Britannia to 5-2 with victory in Friday's first America's Cup race.
After the British team won both of Wednesday's races to start a comeback, the Kiwis responded with a impressive outing on choppy waters off the coast of Barcelona.
The victory leaves New Zealand just two points away from claiming the 37th America's Cup, the world's oldest international sporting trophy, in the best-of-13 series.
New Zealand finished one minute 13 seconds ahead of Ineos, bankrolled by billionaire Jim Ratcliffe, co-owner of Premier League football team Manchester United.
"Nice to get out and stretch the legs in a bit of breeze, really shifty, tricky dynamics," said New Zealand helmsman Peter Burling.
"(The start) gave us an early lead and (it was) nice to be able to capitalise on that."
The Kiwis made a big gain by deciding to split from their opponents in the first leg, with Britain, who shaded the pre-start by a nose, arriving at the first gate 12 seconds behind.
By the third gate New Zealand doubled their advantage as their AC75 foiling boat coped well with the bumpy conditions.
New Zealand made no mistakes to bring the race home, steadily increasing their advantage to cut short Ineos' comeback momentum.
"A tough race for us, we looked in reasonable shape on the start line but the breeze kicked in hard on the right and they did a nice job defending that and got a lead and defended the pressure and shifts," said Ineos skipper Ben Ainslie.
"A tough race for us but we'll keep plugging away and try to come back in the next one."
There will be one further race on Friday, with the competition continuing on Saturday.
(L.Chastain--LPdF)
