On Sunday, the defending series champions Spain dominated the second day of SailGP's fifth round. Diego Botin led his team to victory in a thrilling final against Canada and France.

The Spaniards won their first race of the season by winning two of the seven races over the weekend. They repeated the final round victory from last year on the same track where they were crowned champions.

The final had started well for France, with the boat leading to the first mark. But Spain took the lead in the third leg, splitting the course at the second gate, and leaving Quentin Delapierre’s boat third.

Giles Scott’s Canada appeared poised to repeat its Los Angeles win last week after winning two races in the first day, but ended up second.

Australia, which finished third in the fleet race, had their hopes dashed in race seven after their boat's wings collapsed following a collision with Italy. This allowed France, who placed fourth, to take the spot of Australia in the final race.

It's obvious that it is a little bit of a shock. "It's a very frightening situation," Australian driver Tom Slingsby stated.

"Fortunately, everyone is safe. That's our first priority." We'll just have to do our best to save the boat.

The three-time champions remained on top of the table of championships with 39 points. They were one point ahead the British team, which finished seventh after failing to recover from the crash in the sixth race.

Peter Burling’s New Zealand finished fifth, just ahead of Switzerland.

The home favourites United States ended a disappointing weekend by finishing 11th, unable to score a single point after a difficult first day.

(source: Reuters)