Luna Rossa and Team New Zealand will meet in the America's Cup match. Photo / Dean Purcell
Luna Rossa and Team New Zealand will meet in the America's Cup match. Photo / Dean Purcell
When the racing eventually starts in the 36th America's Cup match, Luna Rossa will be under no illusions of who is viewed as the favourite when they pull up alongside Team New Zealand in the start box for the first time.
They are, however, confident in the route they hadto take to earn their spot in the Cup match paying dividends at the final stage of the campaign.
Coming into the match, Luna Rossa are the most well-raced syndicate, having had to race in every stage of the regatta. But while Luna Rossa have taken part in 24 races, while Team New Zealand have lined up for just seven – and one of those was later abandoned as the time limit expired.
Team New Zealand have not been in the competitive environment since late last year, and have been on the water and in the sheds honing their craft while the challenging teams went to battle in the Prada Cup.
Luna Rossa's performances along the way have shown just how beneficial the racing has been for the development of their boat, and team director Max Sirena believes it will play a part in the Cup match.
"Racing is always key," Sirena told the Herald.
"What you learn during sailing is gold compared to what you learn sailing alone on the ocean. I think it's going to be a bonus, but we know they're going to be hard to beat and we're going to be ready.
"We're fighters, so we're going to be prepared and ready to fight."
Luna Rossa and Team New Zealand will meet in the America's Cup match. Photo / Dean Purcell
In terms of the local audience, having a match-up between Team New Zealand and Luna Rossa in the Cup match is probably the best possible outcome in terms of interest. In past campaigns, Luna Rossa helmsman Jimmy Spithill has been the antagonist Kiwis want to root against – stemmed from him leading Oracle Team USA from an 8-1 deficit to win the 2013 America's Cup in San Francisco.
While he has been looking forward for another shot at the Auld Mug since the Bermuda campaign in 2017, Spithill said there was plenty of work still to be done between the Prada Cup and America's Cup – with that window extended by at least five days due to Auckland moving into Covid-19 alert Level 3 and America's Cup Event Limited delaying the start of racing and allowing both teams slightly longer to get themselves in the best possible state for the start of racing.
"We're never satisfied; there's always more and it's great to see everyone in the team actually doing that. It's easy to say things like that – put the team first and yourself second – but putting it into practice, man it's been so cool to see the guys taking that on," Spithill said.
"Every day, everyone comes in thinking they could have done more and we'll only grow stronger and get better.
"I'm proud of the team and where we've come to, but we're going up against the very best and we're clearly underdogs."
