Sam Davies lost her place on the podium in the Vendée Globe in the small hours of yesterday morning, in what must count as a photo finish in a round the world race.

Marc Guillemot, on his damaged 60ft yacht Safran, had 82 hours of redress, 50 more than Davies on Roxy, for his part in the rescue of Yann Eliès in December. Guillemot, without a keel for the last 1,000 miles, needed to finish before 02.41 yesterday and limped over the line at Les Sables d'Olonne at 01.21. His adjusted time was 95 days, 3 hours, 19 minutes and 36 seconds.

“The last week was very stressful and crossing the line was a great relief.” Guillemot said. “There was the sporting element which interested me. The adventure wasn't really my thing. A lot happened.”

Seven hours and ten minutes later, Brian Thompson, on Bahrain Team Pindar, arrived back in fifth, becoming the second Briton home. “I'm elated and relieved in equal measure,” Thompson said.

Thompson was the dark horse at the start partly because of his vast experience and the radical design of his boat, Pindar. But instead he had to nurse the untested Pindar round and he spent much of the race making complex repairs.

“In the Southern Ocean I couldn't really unleash the power,” Thompson said. “It was much heavier than the other boats, so you're having to push two and a half tonnes more boat through the water and you can't always put more sail up to overcome it because it pushes the bow down.

“But the Brits, percentage-wise, have done a lot better than the French at finishing, and the women particularly have done a lot better than the men.”

Under five hours later Dee Caffari, with the mainsail on Aviva held together with glue, came home in sixth, making it three British finishers for the first time ever in the Vendée Globe. She also became the first woman to sail both ways around the world after her 178-day East-to-West adventure in 2005-06.

She admitted, though, that she had found this race tougher. “It took me a while to get into the intensity of the racing,” Caffari said. “But by the Atlantic coming back I got more and more competitive and I pushed Brian as hard as I could and just ran out of runway. Imagine what I could do if I had a mainsail.”

Like Davies, Caffari saw this race as wet run for the 2012-13. “I would love to stay with Aviva, have four more years with the boat and then deliver the goods.”