Australia's Tom Slingsby was on the wrong end of an aggressive move at the start by Diego Botin, who skippered Spain to a wire-to-wire dash to claim the Bermuda Sail Grand Prix.
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It was the second regatta win for the Spanish in the fourth season of tech billionaire Larry Ellison's global league. Botin's tactics proved enough to fend off heavyweight rivals Slingsby and New Zealand's Peter Burling.
The season standings remain the same with three regattas to go before the $2 million (A$3,028,010), winner-take-all Grand Final in San Francisco on July 14.
New Zealand lead the 10-boat fleet with 77 points, followed by Australia with 67 and Spain with 65. It is another 10 points back to Denmark and France.
Australia, the three-time defending SailGP champions, were hurt by an eight-point penalty in the season standings for hitting a mark in the previous regatta in New Zealand.
"Coming up with the win is just amazing," Botin said. "We just need to keep sailing the same way, put the most points on our board that we can and avoid the penalty points. Just keep focused on everything we're doing."
Spain made it into the podium race on a tiebreaker with Canada. Botin trailed Burling and Slingsby on the approach to the starting line but swung behind them to get the inside position and was the first around the first mark.
He made another smart move at Gate Five to force the Kiwis to turn away, resulting in a big gain. The Spanish achieved 100 per cent flight time, staying up on their foils for the entire race.
Australian Associated Press
