The US-based 11th Hour Racing Team won the around-the-world Ocean Race, thanks to a jury that awarded the hobbled sloop the equivalent of a second-place finish in a leg it couldn't complete because of a crash that wasn't its fault.

The World Sailing International Jury awarded the Newport, Rhode Island, team four points for the final leg - enough for a three-point lead in the standings over second-place Team Holcim-PRB.

11th Hour Skipper Charlie Enright and his crew learned of the decision via satellite phone call a few hours before arriving with their patched-up boat in Genoa, Italy, for the traditional champagne-spraying trophy presentation.

"The circumstances of this win are a little bizarre," navigator Simon Fisher said after the decision was announced on Thursday. "But the news coming in this morning was a huge relief, and it is slowly sinking in that we have won the race."

It's the first victory for an American boat in The Ocean Race's 50-year history. It was the third attempt for Enright, a Rhode Island native and Brown University alum who finished fifth in two previous tries.

11th Hour led by two points in the race standings when it left The Hague for Genoa on June 15 for the seventh and final leg of the six-month, 32,000-nautical mile (59,000-km) circumnavigation of the globe.

Just 17 minutes after the start, the sloop was T-boned by GUYOT environment - Team Europe, puncturing the Americans' carbon-fiber hull. Guyot skipper Benjamin Dutreux admitted the collision was his fault.

11th Hour protested to the international authorities while making a frantic effort to resume the race.

Although the team eventually conceded the leg, it was able to repair the gaping hole in its hull sufficiently to set sail off for Genoa.

The Holcim - PRB boat arrived in the Italian port on Tuesday in third place, about two hours behind the leg winners, for three points.

A boat that fails to complete a leg receives zero points. But the jury found the Americans were not at fault in the collision and were left in a significantly worse position.

11th Hour was compensated with second-place points, leaving it with 37 points in the final standings, three more than the Swiss.