Luna Rossa wins again: Ineos Britannia beat the British
The Italians managed to get the better of the British, who had started off on a high from their previous victory over Alinghi.
2' min read
2' min read
Another victory. In Spain, Luna Rossa's crew brought home the third point of the Final Preliminary Regatta Barcelona, beating the British crew of Ineos Britannia. The Italian crew made up of Jimmy Spithill and Francesco Bruni at the helm and Umberto Molineris and Andrea Tesei as trimmers and Enrico Voltolini, Emanuele Liuzzi, Cesare Gabbia and Luca Kirwan as cyclors managed to excel in the "light and unstable wind conditions" through "the right tactical choices both on land and at sea, executing clean and correct manoeuvres and sailing constantly on the wind shifts".
An important milestone for Luna Rossa that dates back to 1997 when Patrizio Bertelli decided to launch a challenge to the 30th America's Cup in 2000. The 2024 edition in Barcelona coincides with the sixth participation of the Italian Challenger, again representing the Circolo della Vela Sicilia.
Match #11 was the one that saw the Italians come out on top and they managed to get the better of the English who also started off loaded because of their previous victory over Alinghi. Entering the pre-start box early, the British were in the first penalty and after the start, crossing the left boundary, the second. In order to pay the penalties Ineos Britannia lost precious metres to Luna Rossa who took advantage of this to take the lead and round the first gate 23 seconds early. Hence what has been described as the "perfect race". And then the winning of the third point of the Final Preliminary Regatta by crossing the finish line 46" ahead of the British boat.
A very important victory, as reiterated by Francesco Bruni at the end of the Regatta. "We made all the right choices, starting with the bigger headsail, at the suggestion of our coach Hamish Willcox".
For the Italian boat, with three points in the overall standings, the entry into tomorrow's final on Sunday 25 August, when it will contest Match #14 against Alinghi Red Bull Racing. At the end of all the day's matches, the top two teams in the ranking will compete in a match race final to determine the winner of the event.
