The French team arrived back at base about 90 minutes after the win that ensured they stayed in the regatta.
Le Defi Areva beat Mascalzone Latino, making the Italian team the first casualty of the America's Cup.
At the French camp there were balloons, clapping, a few pots were banged and a
little champagne sprayed around.
The music was far from patriotic, with Sweet Home Alabama playing while the crew concentrated on getting the sails out of the boat .
Inside the large marquee where the comparatively low budget French syndicate eat their meals, helmsman Luc Pillot acknowledged the win was a big relief.
"It means that we are happy, of course," he said.
Yesterday's win against OneWorld, Le Defi's first of the tournament, had helped the team gain confidence for today's race.
The last two days had showed Le Defi were able "to play the game" against the other syndicates, Pillot said.
Despite today's win, he did not consider the race to be Le Defi's best of the regatta so far.
"Maybe there was some races where we didn't win but we sailed better than today," he said.
The team had done a few things wrong today, including a slow hoist of the genoa rounding a mark, which had led to some anxiety.
The problem for his team was that they had so far been unable to go as fast as possible in every part of their races, Pillot said.
Asked who he would like to race in the first phase of the quarterfinals, where teams pair up and take each other on in a best-of-seven series, he suggested the British GBR team.
Britain and France had a long history, he said.
Le Defi tactician Sebastien Destremau said the team had done what needed to be done, helped along by a good wind shift early on.
He suggested the they had performed better today because of their loss, possibly because of a basic error, to GBR yesterday.
Making the mistake they did yesterday had helped the team avoid the same problem today, he said.
-NZPA / HERALD STAFF
nzherald.co.nz/americascup
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