In ten knots of breeze the triple Finn class world champion Ben Ainslie won the only race on the second day of the Finn European championships in La Rochelle, France to move up to sixth place overall.

Team GBR sailor Ainslie led the fleet around the first mark from Chinese sailor Liu Bo. Ainslie managed to extend his lead throughout the race, eventually crossing the line to take his first race victory of the championship.

Overnight leader and 1996 Olympic champion Mateusz Kusznierewicz of Poland put in another good result to finish second and maintain his overall lead, whilst Sebastien Godefroid of Belgium crossed the line third.

After three races Kusznierewicz leads the fleet by four points from Godefroid with Frenchman Guillaume Florent third. After his victory today, Ainslie moves up into sixth place overall whilst team mate Andrew Simpson is fourteenth.

A further two races are scheduled for tomorrow with a total of nine races making up the event which concludes on Sunday 15 May.

Overall results

1, Mateusz Kusznierewicz, POL (2,2,2) 6 pts

2, Sebastien Godefroid, BEL (1,6,3) 10 pts

3, Guillaume Florent, FRA (11,5,9) 25 pts

GBR

6, Ben Ainslie (28,4,1) 33 pts

14, Andrew Simpson (41,3,24) 68 pts

39, Matt Howard (46,48,27) 121 pts