British eye rematch with Conner

GBR Challenge are in sixth place out of the nine crews aiming for the America's Cup, after two defeats at the hands of Alinghi and Oracle-BMW Racing in the double round robin of the Louis Vuitton Cup.

That leaves them in a group with Dennis Conner's Stars & Stripes, the French Le Défi Areva and the Swedish Victory Challenge, who have the choice of opponent in the quarter-final and are likely to choose the French today, leaving Peter Harrison's team to face Conner's Americans.

Conner's was the first crew Wight Lightning met and, after 16 years out of the competition, the British team were naturally overawed. But that defeat was reversed in the second round and the improved performance of Wight Lightning under its skipper Ian Walker suggests it should be able to tackle the most experienced team with confidence.

Alinghi, the Swiss boat skippered by the two-times America's Cup winner Russell Coutts, finished with the most wins despite refusing a match with the Italian Prada team yesterday and has the right to choose her opponent from the Seattle-based OneWorld, Oracle-BMW Racing from San Francisco, and Prada who won this event three years ago. Oracle-BMW has shown the biggest improvement of the second round, and Alinghi might not feel comfortable choosing it for the quarter-final. A decision is expected late today.