New Zealand victorious in America's Cup preliminary
The 37th America’s Cup’s preliminary regatta gets underway tonight with teams given the chance to test out their AC75 racing yachts in Barcelona.
Team New Zealand will race against previous America’s Cup’s challengers Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli (Italy) tonight, before taking on the four other teams over the next three days.
The other teams competing as challengers are Allinghi Red Bull Racing (Switzerland), American Magic (USA), INEOS Britannia (Great Britain) and Orient Express Racing Team (France).
The America’s Cup has a lengthy qualifying process with a double-round robin starting later this month followed by semifinals with the four highest ranked challengers competing in a best of nine match race series.
The Kiwis will feature in the qualifying event but won't progress to the semifinals as they are already in the Cup match.
Team NZ won the America’s Cup on home shores in 2021, when they defended the Auld Mug in Auckland against Luna Rossa. The Kiwis won 7-3 in the best of 13 races.
A best of 13 match race series will take place in mid-October to decide who gets to take home the trophy.
Team New Zealand will be testing their boat named Taihoro. The name is inspired by Taihoro-Nukurangi, which translates as "to move swiftly as the sea between both sky and earth".
Their Italian opponents, Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli, retired from the race after an electrical issue caused a system failure onboard.
Opening the regatta, Switzerland's Alinghi Red Bull Racing had earlier claimed victory over fellow debutants Orient Express Racing Team of France by 30 seconds.
In the third race, American Magic earned a comfortable victory over Ineos Britannia who were captained by four-time Olympic sailing champion Ben Ainslie.
The third round preliminary stage of the 37th edition of 173-year-old competition continues through August 25 before a double round-robin tournament begins on August 29 to decide which of the five challengers will take on New Zealand in the best of 13 Cup match.
