America's Cup: Showdown off Barcelona - Switzerland's advantage, France's last chance
The five challengers and New Zealand's America's Cup defenders fought out five matches on the penultimate day of the round robin phase of the Louis Vuitton Cup. In the exciting final phase of the double round robin, the America's Cup defenders from New Zealand once again put in a strong performance, winning their only race of the day against Alinghi Red Bull Racing.
Sir Ben Ainslie's team Ineos Britannia had already managed to impress against the Swiss, who suffered two defeats on Saturday. The Swiss must therefore continue to fight for a place in the semi-finals, which is still in jeopardy. A position they did not expect to be in before the start of the challenger round of the 37th America's Cup.
Alinghi Red Bull Racing in self-analysis
"We have certainly worked very hard on analysing why we don't always perform as we expected. This is particularly true with regard to our performance in training and in practice races. That's one element we're looking at. The other is the whole interaction between sailors, the boat, the sails. We have to make sure we always have the best setup, the best configuration. And make sure we get the best out of it," Silvio Arrivabene told Yacht online in Barcelona.
Alinghi Red Bull Racing's Co-General Manager pointed out upcoming improvements: "As you move forward, you have improvements or upgrades on schedule. That's normal. Reaching the semi-finals will bring us upgrades that will be very good for us."
Silvia Arrivabene does not believe that the two mast breaks that Alinghi Red Bull Racing had to put up with in the run-up to the Louis Vuitton Cup had an impact on the performance of "BoatOne": "They didn't at all. It was rather unfortunate circumstances, especially the second time round. There was a spare rig anyway. We simply turned the next page and went sailing again the next day."
"America's Cup survival duel" on Super Sunday
Most eyes were on the "America's Cup survival duel", as double Olympic champion and TV commentator Shirley Robertson called it, on the race course off Barcelona on Saturday: Alinghi Red Bull Racing and the Orient Express Racing Team are fighting for the fourth semi-final place and against early elimination on the last Sunday of the double round robin round in the Louis Vuitton Cup.
The advantage remained with the Swiss on Saturday evening. The Swiss and French have each beaten each other once in the first and second rounds of the round robin phase. However, Alinghi Red Bull Racing (2 points) gained one more point than France's "Orient Express" (1 point) by beating NYYC American Magic on 5 September.
Both teams lost their duels against the other challengers on Saturday: Alinghi Red Bull Racing was defeated by Ineos Britannia. In their best race to date, the French team had to concede defeat to NYYC American Magic after a spirited fight that never gave up until the finish, 14 seconds behind. "Patriot" helmsman Toms Slingsby described the difficult conditions that prevailed on the course during the battle: "It was a tough day out there today. Waves over a metre high make it difficult for any foiling boat. It's even harder when the waves don't go in the same direction as the wind."
It's all there and the only question is how quickly the French can utilise the potential." Tom Slingsby
The Americans also had to contend with seaweed on the foil. Slingby commented on the mixed US day with a defeat against "Luna Rossa" and the victory over France: "We sailed really well in our defeat against 'Luna Rossa', they were just a bit cleaner. The win over the French was pretty up and down. They put us under pressure. And everyone knows that the longer this competition goes on: the French are coming! We know how fast they are, how fast their boat is. You can also see it with the Kiwis (editor's note: the French "Orient Express" was created with a design package bought from New Zealand before the boat was nickel-plated)."
The duel: who stays, who has to go?
The Orient Express Racing Team, as described above, will be up against Ineos Britannia on Sunday. The Swiss team will face the Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli Team in their final challenger match of the round robin phase. The America's Cup world is holding its breath to see how the long-distance duel between Alinghi Red Bull Racing and Orient Express Racing Team for the fourth semi-final place will turn out.
We just hope it's not too late." Quentin Delapierre
"We have to sail as we know and can: Start clean, race well and hopefully win a point against 'Luna Rossa'. And if that doesn't work, then we'll be ready for the tee-breaker," said Silvio Arrivabene, setting the course for Alinghi Red Bull Racing. For France, helmsman Quentin Delapierre said: "I really believe that the race was our best today. We didn't make any unnecessary or big mistakes. That is very encouraging. Hopefully tomorrow will be a great day for us where we can push the Brits hard."
The scenarios: If the Swiss and French both win their races on Sunday, Alinghi Red Bull Racing will advance to the Louis Vuitton Cup semi-finals. If only the Swiss win, the last semi-final place will be theirs anyway. Only a French victory in the event of a Swiss defeat could ensure a tie between the two weakest teams in the challenger ranking. In that case, there would be a play-off between the two racing teams.
The potentially necessary knockout duel between Alinghi Red Bull Racing and the Orient Express Racing Team must be sailed by 7 pm on Wednesday (11 September) according to the regulations. However, current plans in Barcelona envisaged the deciding match for this scenario on Sunday following the outstanding round-robin matches.
Do you also compete for victory?
It is also possible that the battle for victory in the challenger classification (excluding the results of the duels with the New Zealand Cup defenders) will come down to a play-off. Ineos Britannia (5 points) could still catch up with the Italians if it beats "Orient Express" on Sunday and "Luna Rossa" (6 wins) loses. As victory in the challenger classification entitles the team to choose its opponent for the Louis Vuitton Cup semi-final, the winner of the challenger classification in the round-robin phase would also have to be decided in a tie-break duel in the event of a tie.
The most successful team on Saturday was undoubtedly the British. Ineos Britannia, with its co-pilots Sir Ben Aisnlie and Dylan Fletcher-Scott, was suddenly excitingly fast, powerful and flawless in the first match of the day against Alinghi Red Bull Racing. The race day had got off to a bumpy start for the Ainslie team. The British team had to put their 15-minute joker on the table due to technical problems. Each team is allowed to do this once in the round robin round.
As soon as the race had started, however, the Brits flexed their muscles. In their dominant gala against the Swiss, they crossed the finish line more than 900 metres and 53 seconds ahead of Alinghi Red Bull Racing.
To take a big scalp like this is a massive achievement for our whole team on the water and on land." Sir Ben Ainslie
But that wasn't enough for the hungry crew on the "Britannia", who obviously felt very comfortable in the fresher winds. In the fifth and final duel of the day, they inflicted their first defeat in a challenger duel on "Luna Rossa", which had previously only been beaten by the Cup defenders. "Luna Rossa's" crew paid tribute to the Brits in return. Co-pilot Jimmy Spithill said: "The British sailed strongly. This is the strongest challenger group we've ever had. And that's what we want: tough racing."
One day before the end of the round robin phase and the decision on the four semi-final places in the challenger series for the 37th America's Cup, this was the interim result in the standings without the New Zealand Cup defenders:
These three duels are scheduled for the final day of the round-robin phase from 2.10 pm:
- Orient Express Racing Team vs. Ineos Britannia
- Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli Team vs. Alinghi Red Bull Racing
- Emirates Team New Zealand vs. NYYC American Magic
In addition to the possible race scenarios and jump-offs on Super Sunday, there were also weather concerns in Barcelona on Saturday evening. There could be thunderstorms again. In this case, the showdown could be postponed to Monday (9 September). The regatta management has announced a briefing for Sunday morning in which the plans that may need to be updated will be presented.
Replay of the five duels on the seventh race day of the Louis Vuitton Cup
Louis Vuitton Cup, race day 7, match 22 - NYYC American Magic vs Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli:
Louis Vuitton Cup, race day 7, match 23 - Ineos Britannia vs. Alinghi Red Bull Racing:
Louis Vuitton Cup, race day 7, match 26 - NYYC American Magic vs Orient Express Racing:
Louis Vuitton Cup, race day 7, match 27 - Emirates Team New Zealand - Alinghi Red Bull Racing:
Louis Vuitton Cup, race day 7, match 25 - Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli vs Ineos Britannia:
