After 32 days at sea, just seven miles separates the leading two VOR boats on the final sprint to the finish line at Cape Town.

With just over 100 miles to go to the end of the first leg, John Kostecki’s Illbruck team still has the upper hand but Grant Dalton and team aboard Amer Sports One resigning themselves to finishing in second position as they blast along on a broad reach in an18 knot southerly breeze. “It looks like we are now holding illbruck,” Dalton said, “perhaps even gaining a little. It will be a close finish and we’ll probably only be 20 minutes to half-an-hour behind. We would like to be first, but I’ll be happy with a second.”

Team News Corp who is still well to the south and has a 179-mile buffer over Tyco should retain third position.

Position Report, Day 32, 1000hrs GMT

1 ILBK

2 AONE (7 miles behind leader)

3 NEWS (297 miles behind leader)

4 TYCO (476 miles behind leader)

5 AART (685 miles behind leader)

6 TSEB (1194 miles behind leader)

7 DJCE (1208 miles behind leader)

8 ATOO (1286 miles behind leader)