TOMORROW Britain’s Star and Finn sailors will lead the quest for glory on home waters as the 2012 Olympic sailing medal races begin.

First up will be defending Olympic Star keelboat sailors Iain Percy and Andrew ‘Bart’ Simpson, who go into tomorrow’s medal showdown with an eight-point lead over their main rivals, Brazil’s Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada.

Best mates Percy, 36, and Simpson, 35, narrowly beat the Brazilian greats to vic-tory at the Beijing 2008 Games, but then lost out on the World Championship crown to them in May this year.

The 10-boat battle is scheduled to compete on the Nothe course in front of the 4,600-strong crowd at 1pm.

However, Sherborne’s gold medallist Simpson said des-pite being guaranteed a medal, they were not feeling complacent as they go up against four-time Olympic medallist Scheidt and crew Prada.

When asked what it would mean to win gold on home waters, he added: “I can’t think about it.

“We’ve got one race, it could be a really good race, we’ve got a chance of winning, that’s all we’re thinking about right now.”

If helm Percy claims another victory, he will become a triple Olympic champion, having previously notched up a win in the Finn heavyweight dinghy fleet at the Sydney 2000 Games.

Other big names to watch in the Star fleet include Sweden’s double bronze medallist Fred-rik Loof and crew Max Salminen, currently in bronze medal position.

The double-points medal race, for the top 10 boats, is being staged on the notoriously ‘shifty’ wind Nothe course, close to the first ever ticketed spectator venue for sailing in Olympic history.

The much-anticipated Finn heavyweight dinghy medal race is scheduled to follow at 2pm.

Triple Olympic champion and silver medallist Ben Ainslie is in contention for a fourth gold, a feat that could break a 52-year-old record held by Danish Paul Elvstrom and make him the world’s most successful Olympic sailor.

However, the six-time World Champion’s biggest rival for the accolade is Elvstrom’s compatriate Jonas Hogh-Christensen, who has led the Finn heavyweight dinghy fleet since racing began on Sunday.

The Dane has just a two-point lead over Ainslie but is determined to defend his country’s place in the history books.

A hugely exciting last race of the Finn open series yesterday saw Ainslie deliberately slow down from a lead of more than 150m as he considered match racing the Dane into third place behind Dutch sailor Pieter-Jan Postma.

Tension racked up as Ainslie watched his rival approach before deciding that Postma was on course to beat the Dane to second place without assistance.

The result narrowed the points difference and means Ainslie only has to beat Christensen in the medal race tomorrow and not be more than six places behind the Dutch sailor to claim victory, rather than requiring another competitor to beat the Dane as well.

Ainslie, 35 said tomorrow would be a ‘fascinating medal race’ and added: “I like these situations, it sounds perverse, it’s going to be really tough.

“Jonas has sailed really well all week so it’s going to be a tough battle but it will be great.”

Others to watch in the Finn fleet include Postma, who is poised in bronze medal position.

Both the Finn and Star sailors have a rest day today.