Despite all the management chaos on land, Jesper Banks' Team Germany went into Sunday's clash against the favourites Luna Rossa Challenge highly focused. The Germans managed to force a penalty on the Azzurri.
Luna Rossa's helmsman James Spithill is undisputedly one of the best match racers in the world in his third America's Cup campaign. But on Sunday, the 26-year-old Australian had to take a lesson from double Olympic champion Jesper Bank (48) at the helm of Luna Rossa. The Dane and his crew had successfully latched onto the stern of the elegant grey yacht in the pre-start phase of the duel and rushed her along the line. When Luna Rossa's crew wanted to tack, Banks' crew was able to create an overlap with a faster manoeuvre. In the process, the stern of the Italian and the bow of the German "kissed" - penalty for Luna Rossa.
However, the Italians quickly recovered from this mishap. With better speed potential, Spithill and his team were able to steadily extend their lead and win the race by 41 seconds despite their completed penalty.
"We had a good start, but unfortunately the result was not so good," said Jesper Bank after the first race of the day in Trapani, "but we still made great progress. There are elements on board that fit together very well. Others still need to be improved."
The South African Shosholoza also put in a respectable performance in the duel with Spain. However, after winning the start and an exciting intermediate phase, it was the team led by helmsman Karol Jablonski on Desfio Espanol that controlled this race and crossed the finish line with a 26-second lead. The four other duels were also won by the favourites: Alinghi defeated Mascalzone Latino (1.48 minutes), the French K-Challenge beat the Italian +39 Challenge by 3.01 minutes, Emirates Team New Zealand edged out the Swedish Victory Challenge by 1.30 minutes and BMW Oracle Racing recorded a must-win against the China Team (3.22 minutes).
After the sixth race was completed at midday in bright sunshine and moderate wind conditions of 10 to 15 knots, dark clouds over Sicily created a completely different picture on Sunday afternoon. While Flight 7 was able to start on course Romeo as planned, United Internet Team Germany and opponent Alinghi, Shsholoza and opponent Luna Rossa as well as Mascalzone Latino and opponent Desafío Espanol had to wait until 3.45 pm for their second start of the day.
