Britain took the fight to Italy in their battle to become the challenger for the America's Cup on Wednesday, grinding out a win in a close-quarters contest to take a 5-4 series lead. With both AC75 'foiling' boats bouncing around in choppy seas off Barcelona,

British co-helm Dylan Fletcher said he feared “someone might have been killed” had Ineos Britannia not taken evasive action during Sunday’s controversial loss to Luna Rossa, which allowed the Italians to draw level at 2-2 in the Louis Vuitton Cup final.

Italy’s Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli and INEOS Britannia have split the opening two races of the America’s Cup challengers final off Barcelona.

Italy recovered from a high-speed nosedive in their first race against Britain on Tuesday, bouncing back in strong winds in the second to level the series in what both teams are framing as a "fight" to become the America's Cup challenger.

Great Britain move closer to securing a place in the America's Cup for the first time since 1964 as Ben Ainslie's Ineos Britannia team take a 6-4 lead over Italy.

Britain took the fight to Italy in their battle to become the challenger for the America's Cup on Wednesday, grinding out a win in a close-quarters contest to take a 5-4 series lead.

Ineos Britannia finally broke the deadlock in their nail biting Louis Vuitton Cup final against Italians Luna Rossa, winning both races on Wednesday to move to “match point” at 6-4 up in the first-to-seven challenger series.