SIR Ben Ainslie and the rest of his Hampshire-based Land Rover BAR crew finished third in the penultimate event of the America’s Cup World Series in Toulon.

They now lead the overall series by 14 points going into the final event of 2016, after scoring a third place this weekend.

Ainslie and his crew scored a brilliant wire-to-wire win in the second race at the weekend, but were forced to make remarkable recoveries – to finish third and fourth – after pre-start penalties in the other two races.

More significantly, both of the teams chasing them in the series were deeper in the rankings.

Ainslie said: "To increase our lead in the World Series going into the final event in Japan in November is a big deal for our team.

"We are going to go into the last event in Japan with a reasonable lead of fourteen points.

“Oracle Team USA and Emirates Team New Zealand are our primary rivals, so I don't think we can take anything for granted.

“We are going to have to sail well to keep that lead, and that's what we are really focused on – getting those bonus points heading into the Cup next year.

"We shouldn't forget that there is a lot going on back in Portsmouth. Our designers and boat builders are working extremely hard. This is a critical testing phase for us, so that will be the primary focus now.

“When we get closer to Japan, we will get our mind set right for racing again.

Scott, who was back as Ainslie’s strategist after winning Olympic gold in Rio, added: "It was a weekend of two halves as we struggled in the first two races on Saturday, before we pulled it back to win the last one.”