A blistering start by Team New Zealand has earned them an important victory in the first race of the America’s Cup.
A lot had been spoken about the blazing speed of Team New Zealand’s boat Te Rehutai, and the rumours proved to be true, as the cup holders dropped the hammer from the start, boosting ahead of Luna Rossa.
Peter Burling’s team led through the first gate by 14 seconds and began to push their lead further as they blitzed down the second leg on Auckland's Waitematā.
The lead grew to 23 seconds through gate two, but Luna Rossa, who had worked so hard to get to this stage, were not going to go down that easily.
The Italians pulled a few seconds back on the third leg, trailing by 19 seconds at the halfway point of the race, and reduced Team New Zealand’s lead to 17 seconds with two legs to go.
The Kiwis could not be caught, taking a comfortable 31 second victory.
A calm Burling told commentators after the race he was pleased with the result and to simply just be back racing after a long layoff since the Christmas Cup.
Dean Barker’s belief prior to the race that any team with a significant advantage from the start would not be able to caught proved to be correct in this case.
However, Luna Rossa could take away some positives from the opening race, as they cut into the Kiwis’ advantage through the middle of the race. The Italians will believe they can tie up the series with a win in the second race this afternoon.
Helmsman Francesco Bruni said there was room for improvement but was not downtrodden by the result.
"We had out good points during the race," Bruni said.
"We had the possibility for a better start and we just didn't execute it well.
"I'm sure we will fight hard on the next one."
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