Blair Tuke's boat takes lead in world race

Blair Tuke's boat has won the second leg of the Volvo Ocean Race, taking the overall race lead in the process.

The Spanish boat Mapfre sailed across the finish line in Cape Town, South Africa this morning (NZT), almost three weeks after its departure form the Portuguese city of Lisbon.

The result gives Mapfre an eight point reward - seven points with an additional bonus point for the win - catapulting Tuke's boat to the head of the race fleet overall.

"It's amazing, we're super-happy. We came here in one piece and in front of the others, we can't ask for more," Mapfre skipper Xabi Fernández said.

Tuke's former America's Cup and Olympic gold medal-winning teammate Peter Burling finished in fourth spot with Team Brunel.

Team Brunel failed to close the gap on the leading three boats in the home straight to South Africa's second-largest city, leaving them out of reach of a podium position.

Mapfre had trailed Dongfeng Race Team for the majority of the leg, but the execution of cunning tactics by gybing southwest after crossing the Doldrums handed Tuke's crew an advantage that they never lost hold of.

"We caught them up a little bit, and we gybed south first and got the breeze a little bit before them," Tuke told Radio Sport.

"We led the whole way across the south Atlantic [Ocean], riding this frontal system 20 or 30 miles ahead of them, so that gybe south [was] a very good call from our navigator [Joan Vila]."

Dongfeng eventually finished the leg in second place, less than three hours behind Mapfre.

Leg 2 – Provisional Results – as at Friday 24 November (Leg 2, Day 20) at 19:45 UTC

1. MAPFRE -- FINISHED -- 15:10.33 UTC – 19 days, 01h:10m:33s
2. Dongfeng Race Team -- FINISHED -- 18:02.39 UTC – 19 days, 04h:02m:39s
3. Vestas 11th Hour Racing -- FINISHED -- 19:37.53 UTC – 19 days, 05h:37m:53s
4. Team Brunel +59.8 nautical miles to the finish
5. team AkzoNobel +382.6
6. Turn the Tide on Plastic +385.4
7. Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag +387.1

Volvo Ocean Race – Current Leaderboard

1. MAPFRE -- FINISHED -- 14 points (after Leg 2)
2. Vestas 11th Hour Racing -- FINISHED -- 13 points (after Leg 2)
3. Dongfeng Race Team -- FINISHED -- 11 points (after Leg 2)
4. team AkzoNobel -- RACING -- 4 points (after Leg 1)
5. Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag -- FINISHED -- 3 points (after Leg 1)
6. Team Brunel – 2 points (after Leg 1)
7. Turn the Tide on Plastic – 1 point (after Leg 1)