Land Rover BAR recovered from a poor first race to win the second two contests and complete the day at the top of the leaderboard at the Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series in Portsmouth today.

Led by skipper Sir Ben Ainslie, the home team’s performances delighted the tens of thousands of cheering fans lining the shorefront.

“We wanted to perform well in front of the home crowd to give them something to cheer for — it’s an extra impetus,” Ainslie said.

“We’ve been training hard, preparing thoroughly and the guys are really fired up for it.

“It was very tight racing in quite light and difficult winds.

“We got caught out in the first race, we were in a strong position and then got stuck with Japan and both of us sailed ourselves to the back of the fleet from second and third which was really frustrating.

“But I was pleased with the way we regrouped for the final two races.

“We fought hard and kept going to come away with two wins; and to top the day in such difficult conditions at our home event was a great effort.”

At the start of race one it was Land Rover BAR and Groupama Team France who led the pack, SoftBank Team Japan in third and Artemis Racing, Oracle Team USA and Emirates Team New Zealand all incurring penalties as they crossed the start line fractions of a second too early.

The French team made a tactical decision heading to Gate Two that really paid off and quickly built a good lead.

The battle behind the French was fierce, with boats making contact as the light conditions tested the crews to the limit, but at the finish line it was Groupama Team France in first, Oracle recovering to second and Emirates Team New Zealand in third.

Behind them, a drag race for fourth between SoftBank Team Japan and Land Rover BAR was finally settled in favour of the Japanese on a photo finish, with Artemis Racing bringing up the rear in sixth.

Race two was another penalty-fest at the start, with every team except Groupama Team France incurring penalties for crossing the line before the gun, but the pack quickly caught up with the French team and at the bottom mark the home crowd went wild as Land Rover BAR took the lead.

Ainslie’s crew strode into a huge lead, and from that point they put on an America’s Cup racing masterclass, making the best use of the light winds to finally finish first, over a minute ahead of Oracle, who again fought back from a poor start to finish in second.

Behind them, SoftBank Team Japan finished third, Groupama Team France in fourth and the two boats with new helmsmen in Portsmouth, Artemis Racing and Emirates Team New Zealand crossing the line in fifth and sixth respectively.

The third and final race of the day had another good start for a French team who were the standout performers on the start line today.

Land Rover BAR kept up their race two form, but both Oracle and SoftBank Team Japan again incurred startline penalties and were playing catch up from the start.

The Japanese team, under the leadership of Dean Barker, made up ground impressively and were right with Groupama Team France at the halfway point of the race, battling with Land Rover BAR for second as the French inched ahead.

However, an incredible fight back from Ben Ainslie’s British boat resulted in them overtaking the French boat at gate three and then they found themselves stuck into a huge battle with Softbank Team Japan as they sped towards the final leg.

Finally it was another win for Land Rover BAR, an impressive second for Groupama Team France, third for SoftBank Team Japan, fourth for Emirates Team New Zealand and Artemis Racing and Oracle in fifth and sixth places in the final race of the day.

Adam Minoprio, the wing trimmer of Groupama Team France, said: “Tough conditions today, a lot of light patches and with the sea breezes coming around the Isle of Wight it was tricky conditions out there.

“However, we’re very happy with our performance today. In all the races today Franck and Thomas [Le Breton, Groupama Team France Tactician] made sure we had really good starts, they worked hard to get us right on the line and I think we were leading at the first mark in all three of the races today. It was a good day for them, wherever we were.

“The level here is world class and even though we’ve obviously made some gains, every other team is also improving. The key is to find those last few percentage gains and make sure we are putting them into action everywhere, not just on the first day of points scoring here in Portsmouth.

“The other pleasing thing about today is that we had to work hard last night on fixing the damage to the boat that we incurred yesterday. We had to lift the boat out last night to work on it and a couple of the shore team worked through the night to fix it, then we had an early start to get the boat back in the water. It was a big distraction, but maybe that’s what we need!”