Ainslie is part of the British-based Team Origin outfit

Ben Ainslie will continue his America's Cup preparations when he skippers British entry Team Origin in the Louis Vuitton Trophy in Nice this week.

Britain's three-time Olympic champion and double gold medallist Iain Percy will lead the team against some of the world's best sailors.

The event has been set up to provide competition for the crews while the America's Cup languishes in court.

The date and venue of the next Cup is in doubt because of legal issues.

Holders Alinghi and challenger BMW Oracle Racing are still wrangling over the 33rd running of the event, the oldest trophy in sport.

As it stands, the event is set to involve the two teams racing head-to-head in giant catamarans instead of the usual multi-boat regatta featuring a challenger series and then the final against the defending champions.

Team Origin, a British outfit brought together by London 2012 deputy chair Sir Keith Mills, are hoping to enter a more traditional style 34th America's Cup.

The Louis Vuitton Trophy will feature eight teams and includes some of the biggest names in sailing such as Artemis skipper Paul Cayard, BMW Oracle's Russell Coutts and Team New Zealand's Dean Barker.

The teams will sail in four identical America's Cup-class yachts in a round-robin match-racing format with the top four progressing to the knockout stages.

"This is similar to the racing we have been doing on the World Match Race Tour, it is just with much bigger and more sophisticated boats and four times the crew on board, a somewhat more complex project," said Ainslie.

Ainslie and Percy are committed to Team Origin, throwing up a slim chance that they may miss the 2012 Olympics in Weymouth if the events clash.

"There have been two significant goals in my career. I have had Olympic success - the America's Cup is still a goal," said Ainslie, who won his third Olympic gold in Beijing.

He plans to resume his Olympic Finn campaign in 2011 in time for the British team trials but is optimistic that he will not face an agonising choice.

"If they decided to hold the next Cup in 2012, that would be a big issue for me, though I think it's unlikely," he said.

A British team has not won the America's Cup since the first contest, which was around the Isle of Wight in 1851.

The Louis Vuitton Trophy takes place from 7-22 November on the Cote d'Azur in France.

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