3.45pm - By JULIE ASH
Alinghi, Oracle BMW Racing and Victory Challenge claimed their third consecutive wins in the best-of-seven quarterfinals of the Louis Vuitton Challenger series today.
In the top four Alinghi beat Prada and Oracle beat OneWorld. In the bottom four Victory Challenge beat Le Defi Areva and Team Dennis
Conner continued their comeback by defeating GBR Challenge to take a 2-1 lead over the Brits.
Once again Alinghi led Prada around every mark - 29s at the first mark, 17s at the second mark, 16s at the third mark, 11s at the fourth mark and 21s at the last mark.
Prada was in front for a short time on the final beat but Alinghi crossed the line 8s ahead - the same winning margin as yesterday.
Oracle proved they have eliminated the downwind problem that plagued them in the round robin competition.
Trailing OneWorld by 8s at the first mark, Oracle flew downwind and rounded the second mark 12s ahead.
From there, Chris Dickson and the Oracle crew edged farther in front. They rounded the second mark 12s ahead, the third mark 27s ahead, the fourth mark 32s ahead and the fourth mark 41s ahead.
OneWorld closed the gap on the final run but Oracle crossed the line 19s ahead.
Le Defi Areva's chances of progressing to the next round took a further step backwards when they were beaten by Victory Challenge for the third time.
The Swedes led the French around every mark - 45s, 41s, 1m, 1m 14s and 1 m 19s before winning by 1m 12. If the French lose tomorrow they will be eliminated.
The future also looks bleak for Britain's GBR Challenge. The Brits beat Team Dennis Conner in race one after the Americans were penalised in the prestart.
But with Ken Read at the helm Team Dennis Conner trounced the Brits yesterday by 1m 17s which they backed up with a 2m 10 win today.
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