America’s Cup – Ainslie makes it 4 Prada Cup wins from 4 races

Ben Ainslie and Ineos Team UK completed the first session of the Prada Cup, Challenger Selection Series with a fourth straight win.

The British team completed the round robin racing at the top of the leader board, with four points from their four match races to complete a remarkable comeback.

Widely criticised by the media after their failure to win a single race in the first AC75 racing in December. Ainslie vowed to turn it around, and after a massive team effort over the Christmas/New Year break, they have comeback to dominate the Prada Cup series.

The three challengers now take a four day break before the start the second round robin session on Friday 22 January.

It was not a walk in the park for Ineos to claim their fourth win.

The first attempt at the race was abandoned just after Ineos took the lead in the race at mark 4.

In wind conditions gusting to 20 knots, Luna Rossa had led from the start building to a 370 metre lead at mark 3.

But Ainslie clawed his way back to snatch the lead just as a massive wind shift caused the race officer to abandon the race.

In the rerun race, it was an even start with Ineos quickly tacking away to the right hand side, Luna Rossa carrying on to the left.

Luna Rossa lead at the first cross by 120 metres and rounded the first mark with a 10 sec lead, then stretched their lead to 300 metres. They kept their lead at mark 2, but now 7 sec, and their lead down to 125 metres.

After the second cross, Ineos Team UK just led and the two boats rounded mark 3 together, Ineos going left and into a wind shift, while Luna Rossa went right.

At the cross Ineos had a 250 metre lead and went round mark 4 with a 26 sec lead, which reduced to 12 sec by mark 5.

Ineos Team UK safely crossed the finish with an 18 sec lead over Luna Rossa to record their fourth win from four races.