Land Rover BAR made the perfect start to their campaign to bring the America’s Cup back to British shores with victory at last month’s America’s Cup World Series in Portsmouth.

The British challenger, led by Olympic great and multiple Argo Group Gold Cup winner Sir Ben Ainslie, were declared the winners after the final day of racing was cancelled due to gale-force winds.

Now Ainslie and crew will be keen to build on that success heading into the second stage of the World Series in Gothenburg, Sweden next week to enhance their chances of facing off against Oracle Team USA, the defender, for the ‘Auld Mug’ in Bermuda in 2017.

However, while confidence may be running high in the camp, Jonathan Macbeth, the Land Rover BAR Sailing Team Manager, is well aware that there is still work to be done in terms of trying to achieve the team’s primary objective of being the first British team to win the oldest trophy in international sport.

“Gothenburg will be the second leg of a long tough series,” Macbeth, a three-times America’s Cup winner, said. “Portsmouth was a great regatta for us, yes it was a good start but by no means was it an indication of the final standing, we have a long, long way to go.

“As a team we have our feet firmly on the ground, we understand the level of competition. We are certainly not going into Sweden thinking that we’re favourites.

”When we started this series, I didn’t think there would be one team that dominated, the fleet is just so strong. It is going to come down to the sailors minimising mistakes.

“If you look at the way the races developed in Portsmouth there were big gains and losses on the racecourse throughout the build-up and during the weekend. But, at the end of the day, it was the same principals of yachting racing that won or lost races, good tactics can win you the race, poor boat handling could lose you the race.

“The other thing that was quite evident is that you can never give up. Just when you thought someone was dead and buried, they would come ripping through and be at the front of the fleet again.”

Macbeth, who travelled to Bermuda with Land Rover BAR earlier this year for a series of training camps, believes conditions in Gothenburg will “throw up a little bit of everything”.

“Traditionally it looks like it’s quite a light wind venue, but in the daily forecasts that we have been looking at so far there might be a mix of conditions,” he said. “It can be anywhere from 7 — 20 knots, sometimes you can get nothing, on the flip side I have been racing there and experienced quite a lot of wind. So we’re gearing up for everything.

“It will be a sailor’s racecourse for sure. This regatta will be all about extracting the most from the boat, ensuring that you have good speed in and out of the manoeuvres, making sure that the boat is going as fast as possible all the times.”

The America’s Cup World Series in Gothenburg will be held from August 27 to 30 and will feature all six America’s Cup teams, including home team Artemis Racing.