Franck Cammas’s Groupama Team France are on the brink of elimination after a heartbreaking defeat by Land Rover BAR in yesterday’s tense finale.

The basement dwellers, who suffered a crucial loss to SoftBank Team Japan in the second race of the day, have only two races to turn their fortunes around.

It does not get much easier for Cammas and his crew, either.

They face a formidable-looking Emirates Team New Zealand in their penultimate race today before meeting surprise strugglers Artemis Racing tomorrow, when one of the five challengers will be sent packing.

“There are still two races to go and two races to try to win,” Cammas, the Team France skipper, said. “But we are still alive and we will just concentrate on the next two races.”

Although Team France — the worst finisher at the World Series — are propping up the standings, it would be wholly inaccurate to describe them as the whipping boys at this competition.

They have proven more obstinate than anyone expected, with wins over BAR and Artemis — who are level on points with the French with a race in hand — and Cammas insists his team will fight to the bitter end.

Few would bet against them claiming another scalp before they leave Bermuda, whenever that may be, given the unpredictable nature of the racing so far.

“There is definitely a lot of pressure on us,” Cammas said. “Things are looking very tough, but we are still alive and will do the best we can.

“Will we make it through? I’m not sure, but we will keep fighting and so we will see.”

Team France lost by the smallest of margins against BAR in yesterday’s closest encounter, with Cammas having to overcome a penalty forced upon him by his opposite number, Sir Ben Ainslie, at the restart.

Ainslie then showed great cunning to allow Cammas to cross the start line first knowing that the French would have to drop two boat lengths behind him eventually. Both boats struggled to get up on their foils in the light winds, with Team France showing greater speed upwind, leading at the leeward marks, and BAR making gains downwind.

The teams were neck-and-neck heading to the finish line, but it was BAR who nudged themselves ahead to move on to five points and advance to the Louis Vuitton America’s Cup Challenger Play-offs.

Should there be a tie in the battle to beat the drop, Team France would be doomed, with the better-placed boat from the World Series going through.

“It was frustrating day for us, especially in the second race,” Cammas added. “It was a race we could have won, but that’s life. We will concentrate on tomorrow when there will hopefully be more wind.”

In the opening race, Team Japan, who started the day level on points with Team France, earned a much needed victory with a thoroughly convincing display.

They seemed on course to double up with a second win against Oracle Team USA, who incurred a penalty in the pre-start, but Team Japan’s healthy lead quickly evaporated after a tactical blip.

“It was a shame not to win both races, but today was an important day and it is good to gain that point buffer [over Team France], but our progression is far from assured,” Dean Barker, the Team Japan skipper, said.

“We had a good first half again against Oracle, but it was disappointing to let that race slip away after getting out of phase at the fifth gate.

“While it’s frustrating, there’s still a long way to go in this competition.”