French In Danger Of Being Shunted Out Of America's Cup

Barcelona, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 8th Sep, 2024) American Magic locked up the third semi-final spot in the America's Cup challengers' regatta with a victory over Orient Express on Saturday that left the French boat on the brink of elimination.

The five challengers are competing in a double round-robin regatta to determine four semi-finalists in the battle to challenge holders New Zealand. The Kiwis are also competing in the Louis Vuitton Cup but results in their races do not count toward qualification.

After Saturday's loss to the New York Yacht Club entry, Orient Express have one victory. With one race left, they trail Swiss entry Alinghi Red Bull by one point.

The Americans were first over the start line and held off a determined French pursuit to win by 15 seconds.

"I think it was one of our best races today," said French helmsman Quentin Delapierre. "We put American Magic under pressure, but it came down to the start.

"

"We didn't have any unforced errors or big mistakes so it's really encouraging. I hope it's not too late."

In Sunday's final round, Orient Express will face British entry Ineos Britannia while Alinghi, which lost twice on Saturday, take on standings leader Luna Rossa Prada from Italy.

If Orient Express wins and Alinghi loses they will have a race off.

In Saturday's final race, the British inflicted a first defeat by another challenger on Luna Rossa, winning by a decisive 25 seconds. It was a second victory of the day for them after losing twice on the previous raceday on Thursday.

"The America's Cup is a bit of a battle to try and get the maximum performance out of these boats and for whatever reason we haven't really done a great job of that so far, but today in those conditions we set the boat up well and showed what it's capable of," said Ineos skipper Ben Ainslie.