The French can feel rather disappointed this evening after receiving a penalty in the penultimate leg and finishing the final fleet race in tenth place on Super Sunday, which marked the end of the America’s Cup World Series in San Francisco. After three days showing steady progress, Yann Guichard and his men end up in fourth place in the overall rankings dominated by Oracle Team USA Spithill. The Americans were the clear masters on their home ground, as Russell Coutts’s crew won the match racing event. We look back at the final race in San Francisco.

The tension reached a climax for this final fleet race, as it was going to be the decider, counting four times as much as any other race this week. Second in the overall rankings behind Oracle Team USA Spithill, Energy Team was still in with a chance of winning the fleet racing championship in the AC World Series San Francisco. But the French boat could also lose its place on the podium depending on how well everyone did. The eleven AC45s set off at 1215hrs local time (1915hrs GMT) on a thirty minute race. Getting off to a rather average start, Yann Guichard’s crew was in sixth place at mark 1. They then set off downwind with speeds in excess of twenty knots and peak speeds of 23-24 knots. At mark 2, Artemis Racing White, Luna Rossa Piranha and Team Korea were leading the fleet, while Energy Team were back in seventh place. The upwind leg went well for the French AC45, which moved up no fewer than three places to round mark 3 in fourth place. They had their eyes on the podium as they set off again downwind. But they needed to watch what was going on, as there were two big names threatening them: the two Oracle boats. However, Energy Team kept going for it and made it up to third place at mark 4. The French were looking forward to another great upwind leg hoping for good speed and efficient changes of tack. The downwind run to the finish did not allow them to recover. Energy Team ended up in tenth place in this race, won by a whisker by Luna Rossa Piranha ahead of Oracle Team USA Spithill and Team Korea.

Bruno Peyron: “Things change from day to day, and the final was rather difficult this Sunday. We’re going to have to learn to win on Sundays, rather than Saturdays, as there is such a heavy weighting. 4th overall in this first event of the ACWS 2012 / 2013… We can do better than that, but it was a fine week for the team, who once again showed that they are able to compete at the highest level with the top teams. For the start of this second season, the standard has moved up a notch. You can see it in every aspect of the racing. We’re going to have to keep hard at it and continue to make progress. We look forward to coming back here in a month from now to compete again on this great race course in San Francisco”.

Results of the final fleet race, raced on Sunday 26th August
1. Luna Rossa Piranha
2. Oracle Team USA Spithill
3. Team Korea
4. Luna Rossa Swordfish
5. Oracle Team USA Coutts
6. J.P. Morgan BAR
7. Artemis Racing Red
8. Artemis Racing White
9. Emirates Team New Zealand
10. Energy Team
11. China Team

Overall rankings of the fleet racing championship in the America’s Cup World Series San Francisco – Sunday 26^th August 2012 (after seven races)
1. Oracle Team USA Spithill : 86 pts
2. Luna Rossa Piranha : 85 pts
3. Team Korea : 65 pts
4. Energy Team: 55 pts
5. Luna Rossa Swordfish: 51 pts
6. Artemis Racing White: 48 pts
7. Emirates Team New Zealand: 43 pts
8. Oracle Team USA Coutts: 42 pts
9. Artemis Racing Red : 38 pts
10. J.P. Morgan BAR: 37 pts
11. China Team : 15 pts

To view more photos of this final day of racing in San Francisco, click here