Six teams have qualified for the Cascais AC Match Race Championship on Saturday, following a day of close, compelling competition on the waters off Cascais.

On Friday, James Spithill and his ORACLE Racing crew won all three fleet races, but their good work was undone in the ‘all or nothing’ match race for first place, when Emirates Team New Zealand made a pass on the second lap of the course to secure the match, and victory on the day. It was the third consecutive day of scoring maximum points for the Kiwis, who now proceed directly to Saturday’s semi finals.

Spithill’s disappointment at losing the match race will be tempered by his second place seeding heading into Saturday; he also earns a bye into the semi finals.

Four teams will fight for the other two semi final positions. Sixth placed Energy Team will take on third placed Artemis Racing, while ORACLE Racing Coutts faces off against Team Korea. Both matches are ‘sudden death’ with the winner advancing to the semis and loser going home.

Saturday – Match Racing finals

Sunday – Fleet Racing

Video highlights of the racing

New Venue Announced for World Series

Newport, RI was unveiled today as the final stop of the 2011-2012 AC World Series, which promises to be a dramatic finish to the first season of the new AC45 professional circuit. Designed to expose millions more people to the sport of high-performance racing, the new professional circuit was created to bring the America’s Cup experience to top international venues.

In addition to being the first American host of the high-tech AC45 wing-sailed catamarans in 2012, Newport also has the honor of seeing the first AC World Series circuit champion crowned. The highlight of each AC World Series stop is the spectacular, winner-takes-all, fleet race on final Sunday, where teams put points on the board to take the overall title, so the final race on Sunday, July 1 in Newport could be the ultimate decision maker for the AC World Series champion.

The nine-day event will run June 23 – July 1, 2012