Those were the headlines from an eventful final day of racing in the Louis Vuitton Cup challenger series round-robins, with the French challenger becoming the first team eliminated from the campaign after ending the double round-robins at the foot of the leaderboard.
For Team NZ, the end of the round-robins was always going to put them on a hiatus from racing. They will now be working on their own while the final four challengers are whittled down to one, returning for the first race of the Cup match on October 13 (NZ time).
Team NZ signed off with an emphatic win over American Magic in their final round-robin race, and a word of warning from starboard helmsman Peter Burling.
“The boat’s really nice at the moment. It feels like it’s going really fast and we’re just getting better and better,” he said on the broadcast.
“It was a super tricky race, right at the bottom of the wind limits there... it’s hard to keep the boat on the foil and going really well, but everyone did an amazing job.”
For Orient Express, who were the last challenger to confirm their entry in this edition of the Cup, they were the first team to be sent packing; outclassed by Ineos Britannia and crossing the line 1min11sec after their British counterparts in the first race of the day this morning,
In light breeze, the French made a solid start to the must-win race but fell behind early on the first leg of the race. Ineos Britannia extended that lead on the first downwind leg, positioning themselves well to come away with a good win.
Orient Express Racing Team trimmer Jason Saunders reacts after their loss to Ineos Britannia. Photo / Ricardo Pinto, America's Cup
It’s a disappointing way to exit for the French, who did not win another race after topping Switzerland’s Alinghi Red Bull Racing in the very first race of the round-robins.
Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli, who needed to win against Alinghi in the second race of the day to lock up the top seed heading into the semifinals, had a terrible start as they had a mechanical issue with their starboard foil.
They were disqualified for being more than 100m beyond the boundary when the race period started, which meant they and Ineos Britannia were forced to have a one-off race to decide who would go through as the top seed as both held a 6-2 record at the end of the two round-robins.
That final race was won by the British, who completed their impressive surge over the last few days of racing to now get their choice of opponent for the semifinal, as well as whether to enter the starting box from port or starboard in the first race of that first-to-five series.
They will have a few days to dwell on those decisions, with semifinal match-ups to be confirmed on Friday and racing to resume at 12am on Sunday morning (NZ time).
Day eight results
Ineos Britannia (UK) beat Orient Express Racing Team (France) by 1min11sec
Alinghi Red Bull Racing (Switzerland) beat Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli (Italy) by disqualification
Emirates Team New Zealand (NZ) beat American Magic (USA) by 2min37sec
Ineos Britannia beat Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli by 42sec
