KEY POINTS:
Alinghi shrugged off yesterday's controversial no-show against Team New Zealand to beat Oracle by 26 seconds in the second round of the Louis Vuitton Pacific yachting regatta in Auckland today.
Racing between the Swiss and American arch-rivals was delayed some hours as organisers waited for enough wind and for shipping to clear the race course.
Alinghi won the start and held that advantage throughout to triumph by 26 seconds.
Oracle let Alinghi win the start in order to get the favoured right side and they tacked hard up to the first mark.
Alinghi turned at the first mark with a 12-second lead and the gap stayed the same at the bottom gate.
Russell Coutts' American team continued to fight all throughout the race but could never quite close the gap.
Alinghi sailed a near-perfect race to take their tally to three points which puts them on top of the gold fleet.
The top ranked gold fleet boat goes straight through to the Challenger sail-off while the other crews fight through quarterfinals.
Earlier, Italia Challenge, a newly formed syndicate skippered by Vasco Vascotto, outclassed their more established Luna Rossa rivals by one minute, 42 seconds.
After a close first leg Luna Rossa took the mark very sharply and lost vital speed on their turn.
The margin was still only eight seconds at the second turn but with Peter Holmberg taking Luna Rossa left looking for a breeze shift, their rivals were able to surge ahead.
By the third mark Luna Rossa were trailing by 30 seconds and lost more ground on the final beat.
In the non-counting race of the day, Team New Zealand lost by six seconds to Britain's Team Origin.
Little separated the two teams after an even start.
Team Origin gained a slight advantage to round the first mark 12 seconds ahead which they held on to round the course.
Team New Zealand skipper Dean Barker fought hard throughout the last leg but could not quite catch Team Origin.
- NZPA
