LONDON (Reuters) – Ben Ainslie has parted ways with Britain’s America’s Cup team after his third attempt to skipper his country to the trophy ended in failure in October, Ineos Britannia said on Thursday.
“Unfortunately, INEOS Britannia and Sir Ben could not find agreement on terms to move forward following the conclusion of the 37th America’s Cup in Barcelona,” a statement said.
There were high hopes that Britain, bankrolled to the tune of 100 million pounds ($123.55 million) by billionaire Jim Ratcliffe, could win the “Auld Mug” for the first time in Barcelona.
With the most successful Olympic sailor at the helm, Britain reached the final for the first time in 60 years by defeating Italy and took on defenders New Zealand.
However, Ainslie’s boat was beaten 7-2.
Ineos boss Ratcliffe, who owns the Grenadiers professional cycling team and a minority stake in Manchester United where he runs soccer operations, said the focus was now on building a boat for the next staging of the historic sailing competition.
“I am enormously proud of what we achieved in Barcelona in developing a British boat that was truly competitive for the first time in decades,” he said.
“We will now build upon this for the 38th America’s Cup through the INEOS challenge and already have 100 scientists and engineers working on the design of our AC38 yacht.”
($1 = 0.8094 pounds)
(Reporting by Martyn Herman; Editing by Toby Davis)
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