America's Cup 2017: Britain suffer fourth consecutive defeat

Britain are competing for the right to take on holders USA in the America's Cup proper, which takes place over 17-18 and 24-27 June

Great Britain suffered a fourth consecutive defeat in the America's Cup Qualifiers on the third day of racing in Bermuda.

The six-man British crew were beaten by France, who sealed a 53-second win.

Having won their opener before losing race two on Saturday, Ben Ainslie's Land Rover BAR were also defeated by defending champions Oracle Team USA and Emirates Team New Zealand on Sunday.

Britain began Monday joint second in the table, but now slip down to third.

Standings and how it works

• *Land Rover BAR started the round-robin qualifiers with two points and Oracle Team USA with one point after finishing first and second respectively in the 2015-16 World Series

• Each team races the other teams twice in this stage, gaining one point per victory, with the top four progressing

• Defending champions USA skip the next stage and advance automatically to the America's Cup matches

What about the rest of the field?

New Zealand beat Sweden in a dramatic second race on Monday after nine lead changes, while France followed victory over Britain with defeat by SoftBank Team Japan in race three.

France, Japan and Sweden are all just one point behind Britain, who started the qualifiers with a two-point advantage for winning the America's Cup World Series.

Schedule

Tuesday, 30 May

America's Cup Qualifiers - round robin 2

Racing from 18:00-19:30 BST

Race 1 - New Zealand v Sweden, Race 2 - France v USA, Race 3 - Sweden v Great Britain

Full schedule

What happens next?

The top four qualifiers are split into two best-of-five semi-finals from 4 June, with the winners competing in the final for the right to take on holders Oracle Team USA, who advance automatically to the actual America's Cup matches.

The first to seven points wins the America's Cup, or the Auld Mug as the trophy is known, with a possible 13 races to be sailed on 17-18 and 24-27 June.

The America's Cup, the oldest competition in international sport, was first raced in 1851 around the Isle of Wight and has only been won by four nations.