Great Britain have been crowned the SailGP Team of the Season, having claimed 35 per cent of the fan vote ahead of runners-up Spain and the Championship winners Australia in third place.

The Team of the Season poll was launched the day after the Aussies lifted the Championship trophy for the second successive campaign, following their Grand Final defeat of Japan and the United States in San Francisco.

Though Spain appeared to be heading to victory in the poll, a late surge of voting for the Brits saw Ben Ainslie’s team - who debuted their newly branded F50 at the Mubadala United States Sail Grand Prix - claim the victory by just a six per cent margin.

Tom Slingsby’s Australia rounded out the top three of the fan vote, despite winning more events than any other team this season and claiming the entire Championship, with losing finalists Japan and the USA in fourth and fifth respectively.

New Zealand’s disappointing on-water campaign - despite their victory in the inaugural Impact League this season - saw them down in sixth place, as Denmark and France rounded out the rankings with bigger things planned for next term.

GBR’s victory comes at the end of a season in which they won only a single event - the very first of the campaign in Bermuda last April - with a second place and two third place finishes also to their name.

Ainslie’s team ended Season 2 in fourth place - eight points shy of qualifying for the winner-takes-all Grand Final - and the Brits now head into Season 3 knowing the fans are on their side as they bid to wrest the Championship trophy from Australia’s firm grasp.