Luna Rossa 1 beat Emirates Team New Zealand in the America’s Cup Naples final on Sunday, for the second time this cycle. Co-helms Peter Burling and Marco Gradoni led from the first gate and won by about 17 seconds, repeating their Sardinia final win over the same opponent in May.
The final was the end of a dominant week for the Italians. They won all three practice races on Thursday, four of the eight fleet races and the fleet series by 15 points, then every race on the last day.
How the final was won
Nathan Outteridge and Seb Menzies had the better of the pre-start. They pushed the Italians high and early in the box, then split right and led up the first beat. One slow tack let Luna Rossa 1 through.
From there the Italians covered. Every time the Kiwis tacked, Burling and Gradoni tacked on their breeze and kept them against the right-hand boundary. Emirates Team New Zealand was quicker in a straight line, with a top speed of 42.9 knots to 39.8, and closed to 70 metres on the second beat. It never got past. Luna Rossa 1 tacked 25 times to the Kiwis’ 23, almost all of them to stay on top.
New Zealanders all through the fleet
Nine New Zealanders raced in Naples across four teams, and the final result doesn’t do justice to their weekend.
The Emirates Team New Zealand principal crew was fifth and third on Friday and eighth in the first race on Saturday. It then finished second, third, second and second. In Race 7 Outteridge slam-tacked on the French and held them off to secure the final, with Iain Jensen, his Olympic 49er partner, trimming and calling the breeze. The commentators put the untidy manoeuvres down to months spent at home preparing the team’s AC75. It’s something the team will want fixed well before next summer.
Jake Pye and Erica Dawson’s Women and Youth crew finished last twice, won Race 5 outright, capsized between races on Saturday and still took the Women and Youth trophy. They finished level on 44 points with Luna Rossa 2, the trophy holders from Sardinia, and won it on countback thanks to their Race 5 win.
Jason Saunders trimmed for France through two race wins and two capsizes. Phil Robertson was port helm on Tudor Team Alinghi, which was third overall on Sunday morning until a penalty in Race 7 ended its chance of the final.
The French question
La Roche-Posay Racing Team finished third, eight points behind Emirates Team New Zealand. The French won two races and finished second in the last.
They also capsized twice. The first came at the start of Race 2 on Friday. The second came on the final run of Race 5, while they were 27 seconds clear. Had Quentin Delapierre and Diego Botín’s crew held on to win that race, they would have finished on 57 points to the Kiwis’ 55. It would have been France, not New Zealand, facing Luna Rossa in the final. Before the last fleet race Delapierre admitted the capsize was still on his mind. No crew in Naples sailed its AC40 harder, and those two capsizes cost France a place in the final.
Final fleet racing standings
| Pos | Team | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | R6 | R7 | R8 | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Luna Rossa 1 (won final) | 9 | 10 | 10 | 5 | 9 | 8 | 10 | 10 | 71 |
| 2 | Emirates Team New Zealand | 6 | 8 | 3 | 9 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 4 | 56 |
| 3 | La Roche-Posay Racing Team | 5 | RET | 5 | 10 | RET | 10 | 8 | 9 | 48 |
| =4 | American Racing Challenger Team USA | 10 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 8 | 44 |
| =4 | Emirates Team New Zealand Women and Youth (Women and Youth trophy) | 4 | 7 | 2 | 7 | 10 | 2 | 6 | 6 | 44 |
| =4 | Luna Rossa 2 Women and Youth | 7 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 44 |
| =4 | Tudor Team Alinghi | 2 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 44 |
| 8 | GB1 | 3 | 3 | 8 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 42 |
| 9 | Cobham-Ultra GB2 Women and Youth | 8 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 36 |
Points per race: 10 for a win, dropping one point per place. RET: retired. Luna Rossa 1 beat Emirates Team New Zealand in the match race final. Four teams tied on 44 points are listed in the order given on the broadcast; official countback order to be confirmed.
Our picks from the regatta
Most improved: Emirates Team New Zealand Women and Youth. Pye and Dawson were fifth in Sardinia. In Naples they beat the full fleet in Race 5 and took the Women and Youth trophy from the crew that won it last time. Their results were patchy, but at their best they were as quick as anyone on the course.
Best play: Luna Rossa 1‘s cover in the final. Burling and Gradoni had the slower boat in a straight line and won anyway. They kept the Kiwis on the short side and in their dirty air for almost the whole race. It was match racing at its best.
The boat we most enjoyed watching: La Roche-Posay Racing Team. Luna Rossa won the regatta, but the French made the best viewing. With Olympic 49er champions Botín and Florian Trittel on board, their roundings were tidy, their comms were calm and they sailed at the edge all weekend. Twice that edge put the boat on its side. Next year they will be dangerous.
Looking to 2027
The Match next year will be sailed in AC75s, not AC40s. Even so, Luna Rossa has now beaten the defender in two finals on the way to a home America’s Cup. Team boss Max Sirena mixed his principal, women’s and youth squads to build the winning crew. That includes Maria Giubilei, the only woman in any principal crew in Naples, trimming behind Burling. On this evidence, Sirena made the right call.
Emirates Team New Zealand will leave Naples knowing where to find time before next summer. Its new base at Bagnoli is already under construction. For the wider build-up to 2027, see our America’s Cup week in review.
