INEOS TEAM UK Win RR3 Race 2 Against Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli
23rd January 2021
RR3 - Race 2
Start:
1720
Port: ITA
Stbd: GBR
Course: C
Axis:
227
Length: 1.9nm
Current: 0.2 knots @ 316
Wind:
18-22 knots / 240 degrees
Winner: INEOS TEAM UK +33
seconds
If the tension surrounding this
Italian/British shoot out for the right to jump straight to
the PRADA Cup final wasn’t enough, the weather was about
to throw plenty of more stress into the mix.
As the start
time arrived, the breeze was shifting back and forth across
the race course, preventing the race committee from setting
a fair course.
As a series of delays followed, pushing the start back by almost an hour, news then came that INEOS TEAM UK needed to play their ‘delay card’ of 15mins as they struggled to repair a problem with the cunningham, one of the key controls for the mainsail.
By the time the race did start at 1720 the breeze was up towards 20 knots at times and still clearly very shifty. In the pre-start and with just a few seconds to go there were the first indications that this would be a closely fought race.
As they crossed the line, both were at the pin
end, INEOS TEAM UK to windward, Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli to
leeward.
As they headed out towards the left hand side of
the course INEOS were first to tack away. Luna Rossa
followed shortly afterwards and when the pair came back
together on the right hand side of the course they were
still neck and neck. Luna Rossa tacked underneath, but were
slow to come out of the tack. From here, the close battle
continued to the first gate where INEOS rounded just 2
seconds ahead of Luna Rossa.
Drag racing down Leg 2
both were on port tack with Luna Rossa slightly lower and
faster. But when they came back together, the Italians had
lost out as the British crossed ahead.
At Gate 2 the
British lead had increased to 9 seconds as they rounded the
left hand mark. Luna Rossa took the right.
The next time
they came back together Luna Rossa had taken the lead, the
Italians appeared to be in phase with the shifts and were
capitalising on it, pulling out more distance. By Gate 3
their lead was 19sec.
But there was plenty more left in
this match.
Once again, the pair took opposite marks as
they headed down leg 4.
When they came back together this
time BRITANNIA had taken distance out of their opponents and
by Gate 4 the gap was down to 10sec.
As both boats
went around the right hand mark, Luna Rossa headed out to
the right while INEOS TEAM UK pulled off a more tricky tack
around the mark to split from Luna Rossa who saw the move
and tacked to cover.
Both now on starboard, when the
British team came back they were now just a boat length
apart as INEOS TEAM UK passed just behind them.
From
there, Sir Ben Ainslie pushed out to the right, they needed
the breeze to swing in their favour to capitalise on their
move to the right of the course. Next time that they came
back together, INEOS TEAM UK were ahead as they crossed the
bow of the Italians on starboard. The tables had turned yet
again.
From here, just over one leg lay between the
British quest to jump to the final and the Italian hopes to
keep their fast track to the Prada Cup alive. By the top
mark for the last time, Gate 5 there was just one second
between the pair as they headed down the final downwind
leg.
Once again, they took opposite marks and they came back together INEOS TEAM UK were on starboard, Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli on port, the British were ahead by no more than a second as both tacticians talked of the left hand side being the better side.
For the next cross into the finish, INEOS TEAM UK were on port but could lay the finish, Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli couldn’t and tried to get INEOS TEAM UK on a port starboard. As they approached the stern of the British boat, Luna Rossa called a protest as they claimed they had to avoid the give way boat. The umpires didn’t agree. The Italians had played their last card, it hadn’t worked and Sir Ben Ainslie cut the finish line 33 seconds ahead.
QUOTES FROM THE RACE COURSE
SIR BEN AINSLIE - INEOS TEAM UK
Team Principal and Skipper
"That race was one for the
fans. Pretty awesome race, great to take part in. Lots of
lead changes, neck at neck all the way to the line, credit
to the Luna Rossa guys for pushing hard. We had few issues
leading into the pre-start as we were missing one of the key
settings. The guys did an awesome job getting us around the
track in one piece and getting the win."
JIMMY
SPITHILL – Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli –
Helmsman
“When we lodged the protest the both of us
were doing 45 knots, we had to avoid BRITANNIA so it was a
bit surprised that they thought it wasn’t close enough. At
the top we didn’t pull off a couple of tacks as we should
have, but it was really shifty. A continuous up and down the
entire the racetrack and that’s why we saw so many lead
changes. It was a good effort from the guys on board, and
congratulations to INEOS TEAM UK. We didn’t get the result
we wanted but we certainly learnt a lot from that
one.”
In recognition of being top round robin qualifier, INEOS TEAM UK were presented a bottle of G.H. Mumm and have been awarded with the PRADA Christmas Race trophy - which was not assigned in December as races were not held due to the lack of wind.
INEOS TEAM UK now have three full weeks to develop their boat and getting ready for the next race, whereas Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli have only 6 days before to fine tuning their AC75 before the next race against American Magic who are in a race against time to repair their boat and get back to the startline. The Semi-final - the first knockout phase of the PRADA Cup - starts on Friday 29 January and by then the pressure ramps up dramatically.
No races will be held tomorrow.
Post race press conference will be held approximately 30 min after the prize giving and will be streamed live on americascup.com, Facebook and YouTube.
Full replay of the races is available here.