Can anyone stop Luna Rossa? The French give it a go on day 2 in Naples

Luna Rossa and Emirates Team New Zealand remain in the top two heading into the final day of the America’s Cup Preliminary Regatta in Naples, but day two belonged to La Roche-Posay Racing Team.

Quentin Delapierre’s French crew won two of the four races – and were one gybe away from making it three, capsizing with a 500-metre lead on the final downwind leg of Race 5. It was their second capsize in two days and, with a DNS from day one still weighing on their scorecard, they sit seventh overall despite being the only crew to win more than once today.

Burling’s Luna Rossa senior team opened with a win before scrapping through the pack in later races, but still finished comfortably clear on 51 points, eight ahead of Nathan Outteridge’s Kiwi senior crew, with Tudor Team Alinghi third. Two fleet races remain to decide who goes through to Sunday’s match race final.

Here's how Saturday went down in Naples...

Peter Burling, Marco Gradoni and Luna Rossa gave the locals plenty to cheer about on the Bay of Naples, winning the first of four races on day two by 29 seconds. With close to 20 knots blowing at the top of the course, the Italians tacked just twice on the way to the first mark and extended clean and clinical from there, crossing the line 430m clear of the rest.

The best of the rest were Tudor Team Alinghi, just ahead of GB1 – a result that lifted the Swiss into second overall behind Luna Rossa. A much better race from Dylan Fletcher and GB1, too.

At the other end of the fleet, it was a disaster for the defenders. Nathan Outteridge’s Emirates Team New Zealand started on the back foot, penalised for forcing into a gap that La Roche-Posay had already closed, and the only boat they beat was their own W&Y team, who crashed off the foils at the top gate. Increasingly, the question in Naples is: can anyone beat Luna Rossa?

Fleet race 3 results

1. Luna Rossa
2. Tudor Team Alinghi +0:29
3. GB1 +0:37
4. Luna Rossa W&Y +0:45
5. ARC Team USA +0:55
6. La Roche-Posay Racing Team +1:04
7. Cobham-Ultra GB2 +1:18
8. Emirates Team New Zealand +1:41
9. ETNZ W&Y +1:44

Outteridge pushed the Italians hard on the approach to the line and got exactly what he wanted: a boat-on-boat penalty for Luna Rossa, and a measure of revenge for the match race final in Cagliari.

Harry Melges and ARC USA fired down the opening leg in the lead, until a port-starboard penalty for crossing too close to La Roche-Posay dropped them to the back by the next leg. With penalties raining down on their rivals, Quentin Delapierre’s French crew kept their noses clean and stretched to a 170m lead by the second gate.

Tudor Team Alinghi ran second into the third leg with GB2 third, but the senior Kiwis and Luna Rossa surged upwind as Delapierre covered, leaving less than 10 seconds between the top three at the next gate.

Downwind, Burling swiped second from Outteridge, then made a rare error. Picking the opposite leeward mark to the French, he saw traffic arriving with inside rights and changed his mind at the last second. The extra gybe dropped Luna Rossa to fourth.

Alinghi briefly jumped to second but were penalised for getting too close to the Kiwis. The Swiss clawed second back on the next beat, battling side by side with Outteridge’s crew, until an out-of-bounds penalty ended their charge.

As the pack scrapped, Delapierre and Botín’s crew flew away to a 100m lead, holding their nerve to win by seven seconds from Emirates Team New Zealand, with Alinghi third. Luna Rossa never fought clear of the pack and finished sixth, while GB1 were last again, almost a minute adrift.

Fleet race 4 results

1. La Roche-Posay Racing Team 19:56
2. Emirates Team New Zealand +0:07
3. Tudor Team Alinghi +0:16
4. ETNZ W&Y +0:21
5. Luna Rossa W&Y +0:23
6. Luna Rossa +0:25
7. ARC Team USA +0:43
8. Cobham-Ultra GB2 +0:48
9. GB1 +1:45

Luna Rossa led off the start, but La Roche-Posay picked the right, the breeze paid, and the French rounded the first gate in front. Seconds later the fleet converged on the mark, and for a moment a collision between the two British and two Italian boats looked all but certain. Several AC40s splashed down and GB2 were handed a penalty on the next leg.

Once again the French capitalised on the carnage, opening up a 10-second lead over ETNZ W&Y at the top of the course. Both British boats, in the mix on the opening leg, had slid to the back.

The Americans, sharp off the start line all day, briefly snatched second from ETNZ W&Y on the third leg, only to drop off the foils at the leeward gate and lose two places in one go.

By the final leg La Roche-Posay had stretched to a 500m lead with the race seemingly in the bag. Then, on what could have been their last gybe, they popped up too high, lost speed and capsized – a second capsize in two days, and their race over.

That handed the win to Jake Pye’s ETNZ W&Y, with Luna Rossa second – an impressive comeback from Burling, who had been seventh at one point – and the senior Kiwis third. Alinghi had been second overall after two strong races earlier in the day, but Outteridge’s crew overturned them to move back into the top two.

Fleet race 5 results

1. ETNZ W&Y 19:18
2. Luna Rossa +0:12
3. Emirates Team New Zealand +0:22
4. ARC Team USA +0:31
5. Tudor Team Alinghi +0:37
6. GB1 +0:43
7. Cobham-Ultra GB2 +0:57
8. Luna Rossa W&Y +1:10
9. La Roche-Posay Racing Team RET

What a rollercoaster day for La Roche-Posay. Having capsized from the lead in the previous race, the French bounced straight back, nailing their positioning on the start and firing off to an early lead. By the top gate they were eight seconds clear of the senior Kiwis, calm and collected as they blasted downwind at almost 50 knots.

But Outteridge’s crew kept pushing, finding extra pressure on the right to close the gap and briefly snatch the lead on the next beat. The French clung on to round the following gate a second ahead, and when the two boats split and met again midway down the leg it was neck and neck – so close that the Kiwis flagged for a penalty, only for the umpires to rule that the French had kept clear by centimetres. Delapierre’s crew were three seconds ahead at the next gate.

While that battle played out, GB1 and Luna Rossa scrapped over third, the Brits marginally ahead on the penultimate leg until Burling’s crew snatched it at the last gate.

On the final leg La Roche-Posay stretched their lead to 300m, winning by 22 seconds from the Kiwis, with Luna Rossa third. For ETNZ W&Y, caught head-to-wind and drifting backwards in the final minute before the start, it was first to last.

Fleet race 6 results

1. La Roche-Posay Racing Team 20:23
2. Emirates Team New Zealand +0:22
3. Luna Rossa +0:33
4. GB1 +0:38
5. Luna Rossa W&Y +0:46
6. Cobham-Ultra GB2 +0:55
7. Tudor Team Alinghi +1:18
8. ARC Team USA +1:24
9. ETNZ W&Y +1:55

Sunday brings two more fleet races, then the match race final. Luna Rossa, on 51 points, look all but certain to be there. The real question is who joins them. Emirates Team New Zealand recovered from a nightmare start to the day and sit second on 43. That puts them five points ahead of Alinghi, whose day tailed off after two strong opening races.

Spare a thought for La Roche-Posay. They won two races on day two, yet a non-start on day one and their race five retirement leave the French seventh on 31. To finish first, first you must finish.

Join us tomorrow to see who takes the title in Naples.