Ben Ainslie puts in 'best race' of his career as Ineos Team UK make final of Prada Cup

The champagne was flowing for Ineos Team UK by the end of the day, with owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe, newly-arrived in New Zealand, boarding his winning yacht Britannia to celebrate with his sailors. But it could have been very different. What a race. And what an advert for this new class of America’s Cup boat.

Sir Ben Ainslie’s team eventually secured their place in the final of the Prada Cup challenger series in the most. But only after, in Ainslie's words, "one of the best races of his career”. Ineos overcame shifty conditions and technical gremlins to beat Luna Rossa in a thrilling duel involving no fewer than nine lead changes and a protest from the Italian challengers on the very final cross of the final downwind leg.

Fortunately for British sailing fans, the race jury sided with Ineos, much to Jimmy Spithill’s disgust. “We were doing 45knots both of us and we had to avoid him so I’m pretty surprised to see that they thought that was not close enough,” said Luna Rossa’s disgruntled Australian helm who was on starboard.

Ainslie admitted it had been close. “About as close as you would want to get,” was his verdict. But the British helmsman was thrilled to have won another race, Ineos’ fifth in a row, following their well-documented struggles before Christmas.

The victory meant Ineos took an unassailable lead in the round-robin phase of the series, which ended abruptly when Ainslie announced that, with a forecast of over 20 knots, Ineos would not be racing their final ‘dead rubber’ against Luna Rossa on Sunday. Instead, while Luna Rossa and American Magic prepare for next weekend’s semi-final series, they will embark upon a series of upgrades to their boat. Ineos have three weeks before their next race, with the Prada Cup starting on Feb 13. It is a potential game-changer. “We all know time in this game is everything,’” Ainslie had said in the build-up to Saturday’s racing of the importance of finishing top. “Some changes are overnight and some may take three or four days. It [finishing top of the round robins] buys you the flexibility to change a few things you might not otherwise get to change.”

Ineos’ decision not to race on Sunday will not be universally welcomed. American Magic’s capsize had already seen four of this weekend’s six scheduled races fall by the wayside. So to voluntarily sacrifice another one will not go down well in some quarters. You can understand the call though. These boats are flying machines. One mistake and your entire America’s Cup challenge could be over. “I understand their position,” Luna Rossa’s Francesco Bruni said. “It’s always hard to sail in strong conditions, particularly when you have a lot to lose.”

At least the one race they did manage to stage was a classic, even if it did take an age to get going. First the course had to be reset due to a huge wind shift round to the right, then Britannia had a scare, having to play their 'delay card' of 15 minutes as they struggled to repair a problem with the cunningham, one of the key controls for the mainsail.

Finally, 80 minutes after the scheduled start time, they managed to get under way. And it was nip-and-tuck from the word go. A couple of poor tacks from Luna Rossa allowed Ineos to round the first gate with a narrow lead, which despite their cunningham issues – costing them downwind – they had extended to nine seconds by Gate 2.

Luna Rossa fought back on the second beat, rounding the top mark for the second time with a 19-second advantage. And the Italians thereafter tried to stay in phase with their British rivals, defending their advantage. But with the wind gusting over 20 knots, Ineos – who broke the 50-knot (58mph) barrier at one stage – took advantage of a split heading upwind for the final time and managed to reach the top mark neck-and-neck with their rivals.

It all came down to the final cross, with Ineos fractionally ahead but struggling to get any lower as Luna Rossa bore down on them, Spithill called “starboard” and made a great show of ducking behind Britannia, trying to convince the race jury that he had had to change his course to avoid a collision. They didn’t buy it.

“It was a classic race and a great final moment,” conceded Ainslie. “Coming out of the last gybe we looked alright, but you know the other team are going to come down on you and make it as hard as possible, which they did. So we tried the same thing and sail lower and lower, but we had a bit of an issue with our cunningham and weren’t that powered up so getting lower was not such an easy thing to do. It was about as close as you could get. Maybe five metres.

“I think it’s one of the best races I’ve ever been involved in. A great showcase for the sport.”

Ainslie added that he was delighted by the way his team dealt with their technical problem, not panicking, coming up with a fix, and added that Ratcliffe would remain with the team now for as long as they are in New Zealand. “I think Jim really enjoyed it,” he said. “But we’re really not getting ahead of ourselves. There’s a hell of a long way to go.”