Yachting: Team NZ second in fleet race

Yachting: NZ third overall in fleet race

Team New Zealand finished second in the final fleet race of the America's Cup pre-regatta in Valencia today to take third place overall.

NZL 84 ended the regatta with the same number of points as Luna Rossa today but was placed behind ITA 86 on a countback.

America's Cup defending champions Alinghi, today's race winner, won the regatta -- the Louis Vuitton Act 11.

Team New Zealand took second place after a battle with Mascalzone Latino and BMW Oracle.

While ITA 77 and USA 87 engaged in a luffing duel in the sprint to the finish, NZL 84 was able to sail its own race and put the outcome beyond doubt.

Team New Zealand boss Grant Dalton said Alinghi continued to sail well and the challengers were pretty much left on their own to fight it out.

"We are seeing some of the challengers making great strides towards 2007 and I'm satisfied that we have come a long, long way since 2003. We are right up there but we still have some way to go before I will be happy." Dalton said.

"There's a lot of self-imposed pressure on the team. Tonight, 12 team members leave for Punta Ala to compete in a TP52 regatta."

Today's results:

SUI 75 1, NZL 84 1min 27sec behind 2, USA 87 at 1min 49sec 3, ITA 86 at 2min 15sec 4, ITA 77 at 2min 16sec 5, ITA 59 at 2min 26sec 6, FRA 60 at 2min 53sec 7, RSA83 at 3min 13sec 8, ESP 65 at 3min 34sec 9, GER 72 3min 47sec 10, SWE 63 at 4min 10sec 11, CHN 79 DNS 12.

Final team points:

1 SUI 75 53, 2 ITA 86 45, 3 NZL 84 45, 4 USA 87 41, 5 ITA 77 39, 6 RSA 83 33, 7 FRA 60 32, 8 ITA 59 31, 9 ESP 65 26, 10 SWE 63 24 11 GER 72 13, 12 CHN 79 6.

- NZPA