Australia have notched a win and two second placings to lead the fleet after day one of the SailGP event off Auckland, New Zealand.

Tom Slingsby's Australian team also had a fifth placing to finish Saturday with 34 points, ahead of Britain who had a first and second placing in the first two races and finished with 28 points.

Spain were third with 26 points after a consistent day and New Zealand won the last race to move up to fourth place with 25 points.

The first day saw four fleet races, raced in winds of between 17 and 22 knots. There will be two more fleet races Sunday before the top three teams contest the event final and stronger winds are expected on day two.

The Auckland event is the second leg of the SailGP series, following the series opener in Dubai in November.

It is also the first event in which teams used new T-Foils which replace the previous L-Foils and provide more speed, stability and responsiveness.

Teams have said the new foils make the boats feel bigger and more powerful. On Saturday, boats regularly reached speeds of almost three times the wind speed.

New Zealand driver Peter Burling said the T-Foils "make a huge difference, to be honest.

"Today's wind was probably at the lighter end of the spectrum and its pretty impressive how fast down the spectrum they go. They're a lot to play with."

The SailGP fleet usually involves 12 boats but only 11 were able to race in Auckland because France had equipment problems.

Britain won the first race ahead of Spain and Italy with New Zealand fourth and Australia fifth.

The United States were first across the start line in race two and led at gate three but crashed heavily on the fourth leg as Australia went on to win from Britain, Italy and Spain.

Switzerland hit the line first led throughout race three, a boost for the team which finished last in the 2024 series, while Australia won a duel with Canada to take second.

In race four, New Zealand hit the start line fastest and had a two-second lead over Australia at the first gate. They were able to stretch their lead from then on.