The first day of the second-series of Challenger round robin racing was again beaten by the weather conditions . . . A Lightning strike on the racecourse during the final leg of the Luna Rossa versus Emirates race brought proceedings to an early end.
The first race (Race 16) had seen a key meeting of Alinghi Red Bull Racing and Orient Express Racing, both fighting to avoid elimination, the French had one win, and the Swiss none from their four previous races.
At the start Alinghi was first away, closely followed by Orient Express. The Swiss pulled clear and were able to tack and win the first cross, but as the French tacked they lost rudder control and crashed off the foils.
They took some time to recover, allowing Alinghi to extend away to round gate 1 with 1 min 38 sec lead. Basically that was game over for the French, and Alinghi Red Bull finished with a 1 min 10 sec lead over Orient Express.
This first win puts the Swiss back on equal terms with the French as they fight to avoid the drop.
The second race was a non-scoring race between Emirates Team New Zealand and Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli.
This opened with a stunning start by the Italians who left the Kiwis for dead in the water, to build a near 400m lead, before a rudder loss pitch-up halved that, but they survived to round gate 1 with a 16 sec lead.
Once ahead the Italian’s held the Kiwis at bay . . . At gate 2 Luna Rossa lead by 12 sec, extending that to 23 sec at gate 3 and 31 sec at gate 4.
With the breeze dropping the Italians started the final leg with a 59 sec lead of over 1000 metres, and looking very comfortable when mother nature stepped in with some dramatic thunder and lightning.
A spectacular lightning strike ahead of them on the course sent Emirates Team New Zealand for cover off the course, and immediate disqualification.
The Race Committee then awarded the race win to Luna Rossa and racing was abandoned for the day.
Louis Vuitton Cup Challenger Selection Series after day 5
These are the results used to decide the top four challengers to move onto the Semi-Finals
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