America's Cup: Luna Rossa and New Zealand in the final in Naples

The senior crews of Luna Rossa and Emirates Team New Zealand finished the seventh fleet regatta in first and second place, the first race of the third day of racing in Naples, and arithmetically won, with one heat to spare, the pass for the final one-on-one match race of the preliminary America's Cup regattas.

On the Caracciolo seafront, thousands of spectators had to wait almost an hour for the start, which was delayed due to the lack of wind and then allowed thanks to a change in the route ordered by the organizing committee which moved the buoys.

When we start on the race course there is no story: Luna Rossa takes the lead from the start and dictates the pace, New Zealand and Roche Posay chase but are delayed. In the final part the Kiwis attempted a comeback but had to settle for second place. Third place for the French ahead of GB1. Luna Rossa Young and Women were only seventh ahead of Alinghi which thus saw the possibility of accessing the final match race disappear. The provisional ranking now says Luna Rossa 61, New Zealand 52 and Alinghi 41: the Swiss, even by winning and obtaining the 10 points up for grabs in the last race, would not be able to undermine New Zealand's placing which is worth access to the final act.