 Holders Alinghi dominated the America's Cup warm-up series |
America's Cup holders Alinghi completed an impressive week with their fourth win in seven races at the Louis Vuitton Act in Valencia on Saturday. The Swiss team overtook BMW Oracle Racing on the second lap of the day's second race to secure the series win.
Alinghi finished with 78 points, 14 more than Team New Zealand, helmed by Briton Ben Ainslie.
The Act is a warm-up series for the Louis Vuitton Cup, which decides who races Alinghi for the America's Cup.
Saturday was therefore the last chance for the 11 challengers to race against Alinghi before they go onto the Louis Vuitton Cup, and Alinghi await the winners.
In the first race of the day, Spanish team Desafio Espanol won their first ever fleet race after overtaking Alinghi halfway through the first lap.
Team New Zealand's Grant Dalton said: "We finished on top of the challengers' leaderboard for Act 13 and top challenger over the past three years.
"We have had a great result and this gives us encouragement for the racing ahead."
He added: "One thing we have learned during this regatta is just how good Alinghi is.
"Their hardware is very fast and as we've seen over the past few days they can get themselves out of trouble with apparent ease."
Act 13 final overall standings (after seventh and final race):
1. Alinghi (Swi) 78 points
2. Emirates Team New Zealand (NZ) 64
3. Mascalzone Latino (Ita) 63
4. Luna Rossa (Ita) 60
5. BMW Oracle Racing (USA) 57
6. Desafio Espanol (Spa) 55
7. Team Shosholoza (SA) 43
8. Victory Challenge (Swe) 35
9. Areva Challenge (Fra) 31
10. United Internet Team Germany (Ger) 29
11. +39 Challenge (Ita) 17
12. China Team (Chn) 11