OneWorld Challenge will race Team Dennis Conner in an all-American quarter-final repecharge in the Louis Vuitton challenger series.
The Seattle syndicate's move leaves two European syndicates to sail the other repecharge, with Prada of Italy racing Victory Challenge of Sweden.
The two pairs each race a best-of-sevenseries, starting this Saturday, with the two winning teams joining Alinghi (Switzerland) and Oracle BMW Racing (US) in the semi-finals.
OneWorld's decision was a surprise, because Conner's Stars and Stripes team had shown indifferent form in the first two rounds. However a change of boats lifted their performance considerably in the 4-1 quarterfinal win over GBR Challenge.
OneWorld may have gambled on racing Conner's experienced team now in an attempt to knock them out of the contest before they become too competitive.
Prada is currently making major changes to its boat ITA-74, replacing the bow for the second time, raising questions about whether the boat will be ready for racing by Saturday. If not, Prada can use their second boat ITA-80 which has also undergone extensive modifications and had a new bow attached.
The quarterfinals repecharge race are scheduled for November 23-30, and the semifinals will begin on December 9.
