Land Rover BAR have launched a third test boat at the team’s base in Portsmouth.

Christened as “T3”, the AC45S foiling catamaran is another test platform for the 50-foot catamaran that the team will use in their bid to become the first English racing syndicate to win the America’s Cup in Bermuda next year.

The team took the boat for a test drive on the Solent and according to some spectators were flying along at a rate of knots.

“We were doing 22 knots through the Solent on the Pilot Launch when BAR3 overtook us,” David Baker wrote on the team’s Facebook page. “I wouldn’t mind but there was only about 10 knots of wind.”

Sir Ben Ainslie, the Land Rover BAR team principal and skipper, hailed the test boat as “terrific.”

“T3 is another fantastic piece of technology from our designers, engineers, shore team and key suppliers,” Ainslie said.

“It’s terrific to see the step changes we have made each time we launch a new boat. This is a new team, but it’s growing up fast. Really fast.”

Ainslie, who is a four-times Olympic gold medal winner and two-times King Edward VII Gold Cup winner, defended the “Auld Mug” as a tactician with Oracle Team USA at the 34th America’s Cup in San Francisco in 2013.

Richard Hopkirk, who heads up Land Rover BAR’s Systems and Analysis department, said the new test boat is a “significant step closer” to the systems that will be use on the team’s final race boat.

“This boat will allow us to test and develop across all the key areas that will impact our ultimate performance,” he added. “It’s a critical progression in the search for fast, stable and continuous flight.”

Land Rover BAR’s new AC45S will be involved in a development and testing programme to throughout the summer.

The British challenger’s second AC45S, referred to as “T2”, capsized during a training exercise off the Isle of Wight last December.

The boat ran into difficulty in 15 to 19 knots of wind when an issue with the wing inversion initiated a capsize to windward.

Damage to the boat was sustained to a section of the wing while none of the crew were injured.