Assa Abloy snatched the lead from illbruck in the final stretch to the finish line in Miami to win the fifth leg of the Volvo Ocean Race.

With British skipper Neal McDonald at the helm and American navigator calling the shots, the lead yacht crossed the finish line at 0549 this morning, securing their second race win, second place in the overall standings and significantly closing the gap between themselves and illbruck, the current overall leader.

Assa Abloy was always in contact with illbruck throughout the leg and for several days led the fleet. However, illbruck broke from fleet and managed to pull out a significant lead that looked reasonably secure. But, in the closing stages of the race, Assa Abloy left Tyco, their long time shadow, behind to concentrate on catching illbruck. Assa Abloy was able to benefit from illbruck’s lack of light air spinnaker, and consequently take control of the race to the finish line.

Position Report, Day 19, 0609 GMT

1 AART

2 ILBK 8 miles from leader)

3 TYCO (8 miles from leader)

4 NEWS (27 miles from leader)

5 TSEB (28 miles from leader)

6 AONE 44 miles from leader)

7 DJCE (171 miles from leader)

8 ATOO (173 miles from leader)

Leaderboard

1 illbruck 36pts

2 ASSA ABLOY 28pts

3 Amer Sports One 25pts

4 Tyco 24pts

5 News Corp 24pts

6 Djuice 19pts

7 SEB 16pts

8 Amer Sports Too 8pts