America’s Cup Preliminary Regatta: Emirates Team New Zealand qualify for final with two wins

Emirates Team New Zealand’s two wins on the second day of the America’s Cup Preliminary Regatta was enough to see them into Saturday’s match race final.

The Kiwis, led by Peter Burling, won races five and six of the series, and the day’s second and third, putting an early blow dealt to them by the Italian team, Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli, behind them.

The Italians, spurred on by 19-year-old debutant Marco Gradoni, won the day’s first race comfortably after beating off some tight competition in the early rounds, before the New Zealanders’ vast experience saw them pip their counterparts to the post in the second race.

The final race of the day went down to the wire, with all the boats trading the lead position at times, but it was Emirates Team New Zealand who sealed their qualification for the grand final, fighting off their other competitors, NYYC American Magic and Alinghi Red Bull Racing, to claim their second win of the day in Saudi Arabia.

Two more races will decide who the remaining place in the final goes to, with it being a three-horse race between Luna Rossa, Alinghi Red Bull Racing and INEOS Britannia.

Team New Zealand’s Blair Tuke said: “It was pretty fun. We’ve known that these boats can do that and have that bow-on-bow action, close dips here and there and coming down to the real fine margins of boat speed and wind shifts almost like a conventional keelboat fleet but much faster. So, it was great to finally see what these boats could do today.

“There are times onboard that you have to be really clinical in your communication and positioning of the boat, and there’s other times where it turns into a bit more of an open course where you can discuss things a little bit more so just changing that tone as you go through is important.”

Gradoni, of Luna Rossa, said: “We had fun. The first two races were ‘hot’, because they were a match-race with New Zealand. The first one we won by a lot, the second we were tight until the end, and they won it but that made us more hungry.

“The last one, unfortunately, we had a problem with [communication], so it was more difficult to do a good race. Also, we didn’t [get] a good start, so it was hard. We have two races to go and we have to make sure that we are in the top two.”