Italy’s Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli beat Britain’s INEOS Team UK in both races Saturday on the first day of the America’s Cup challenger series final in Auckland, taking a 2-0 lead in the best-of-13 series. Luna Rossa first exposed the British team’s vulnerability in light winds, winning the first race by 1 minute, 52 seconds, then was still quick and sailed flawlessly when it won the second race by 20 seconds in a stiffening sea breeze.
Team UK wasn’t able to stay on its foils in the pre-start before race one and Luna Rossa, which was much more stable in the light breeze, sailed away to a convincing win. British skipper Ben Ainslee said “one team could get up and foils and the other couldn’t. That was the story.”
