INEOS Britannia, the British Challenger of Record racing for the Royal Yacht Squadron Ltd, had a tough day in Barcelona as the 37th America's Cup Match moved to 6-2 in favour of Defenders Emirates Team New Zealand.
The Kiwis managed to take both race wins on Friday after picking the best breeze across the course in tricky conditions. It is now do or die for the British Challenger, with the Kiwis on match point, needing just one more win to secure the America's Cup trophy for the third time in a row.
INEOS Britannia Team Principal and Skipper Ben Ainslie said: "It wasn't a good day for us. The Kiwis managed to pick the shifts and did a really good job of defending and putting us in a bad spot. You have to take these things on the chin though, but it's not over yet, we will keep fighting. The team has fought all the way through this competition, we've been on the backfoot before and made some huge gains to get us this far. We've seen in the history of the Cup there's been some amazing comebacks and we know we've got a great team and a great boat."
Ainslie said: "We did have an issue with the rudder but I don't think it affected the result. It will just be something we need to look at and figure out how to avoid in the future. Despite today's result the team is in a good place, we know there are no second chances now and that we have to win every race, but the team is positive and they're all up for the fight as long as it takes."
Racing resumes today, Saturday from 13:00 BST (14:00 CEST) and UK viewers can watch it all live on the Sail-World.com and YachtsandYachting.com homepages.
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