The America’s Cup was finally the spectacular and exciting competition that was expected, with a masterful final between Team New Zealand (New Zealand) and Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli (Italy), champion and runner-up in 2021, which finally fell to New Zealand after a fantastic display of Italian rebellion. The final victory in the Barcelona Preliminary confirmed New Zealand’s superiority four days before the start of the America’s Cup on the 29th, but Luna Rossa’s proximity to the final and the defeat suffered against American Magic (United States) in the last round (although with nothing at stake because they already had a ticket to the final), breaks the aura of invincibility that had been created around them.
The decisive race was marked by the judges’ decisions. A penalty for Luna Rossa at the start marked the start of the race, but Max Sirena’s boys managed to catch up with their rivals halfway through the race. The judges considered that they came too close in a manoeuvre and gave them two more penalties, insurmountable sanctions for the Cagliari fighters, who came in 34 seconds behind. The fourth leg of the final (it was contested in six legs), with the two AC75s flying at 40 knots (75 km/h) just a few metres apart, was the best calling card to seduce the Barcelonans, who so far have not shown much interest in the most important sailing competition in the world after three rather dull days.
After three years of waiting to see how the AC75s perform in full competition, the preliminary round has left the first clues: Luna Rossa is the main contender to beat the defending champion, one step ahead of American Magic. On the other hand, Ineos Britannia (United Kingdom), Alinghi Red Bull Racing (Switzerland) and Orient Express (France) seem to have work to do. In any case, this preliminary round leaves pending a duel between Italians and New Zealanders without conditions. If this Sunday was the penalties, on Thursday it was an electrical fault that prevented Luna Rossa from competing.
With the race course perpendicular to the Barcelona coast due to the southeasterly wind of just eight knots (the minimum for sailing is 6.5), the fourth and final day was by far the most entertaining. After Team New Zealand’s resounding defeat by American Magic with nothing at stake, the race between Alinghi Red Bull Racing (Switzerland) and Luna Rossa (Italy) was exciting. It featured tactics, mistakes, penalties and numerous position changes, something unusual in this type of one-on-one race. The Swiss pushed the Italians to start early with a great manoeuvre in the pre-start (the phase where the boats gain speed and position themselves to cross the start line when a countdown reaches zero); but when they had more than 300 metres of advantage (a guarantee of victory from what we have seen so far) a bad turn ended with their nose submerged. Luna Rossa overtook them, but the AC75s got so close in the overtaking that the judges penalized the boys of Max Sirena, the Italian skipper, by giving up the first position again. It was not enough for Alinghi Red Bull, champion in 2003 and 2007, who were also unable to maintain their advantage again. Luna Rossa reached the finish line first and guaranteed their passage to the final of the Preliminary against the AC75s. kiwis.
With no chance of qualifying, Orient Express (France) and Ineos (United Kingdom) closed the qualifying races and confirmed that they still have work to do. The British started early and the French arrived late to the starting line when they were not putting pressure on each other, which confirms their limitations. Ben Ainslie’s team, the Olympic medal collector, crossed the finish line first after making a couple of navigation errors, while life goes on as usual for Orient Express, which has only won one duel out of five because its rival (American Magic) did not compete on Saturday due to technical problems.
The Preliminary closes the start of the America’s Cup, which will officially begin next Thursday, August 29 with the Louis Vuitton Cup, the qualifying rounds from which the winner will emerge who will face Team New Zealand in October, directly qualified for the world championship.atch as the defending champion. The six teams play each other twice and each victory counts for one point: The top four teams advance to the semi-finals on 14 September and the last team is eliminated. kiwis They also compete in this first round, but their races do not count.
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