‘Battle-hardened’ Italians set up showdown with Ben Ainslie’s Ineos Britannia

Luna Rossa skipper Jimmy Spithill threw down the gauntlet to rival Ben Ainslie, predicting his team would be more “battle-hardened” than the British after the Italian challenger for the 37th America’s Cup finally got the win they needed against American Magic to set up a mouthwatering challenger series final.

‌The winner of the first-to-seven Louis Vuitton Cup final, which begins in Barcelona next Thursday, will face defenders Emirates Team New Zealand in next month’s Cup match.

‌Spithill, a two-time Cup winner, suggested his team would be better prepared than Ineos Britannia after coming through such a tough semi against the Americans.

‌Luna Rossa had been 4-0 up in the first-to-five series, but it was always closer than it appeared on paper, with just seconds separating them in each race. The Italians then lost a tight race in light winds on Monday to slip to 4-1. Then lost two more on Wednesday, the second of which saw them break their mainsail traveller, sustaining structural damage to their AC75.

‌Spithill praised Luna Rossa’s “zombie” shore team, who he said had “pulled an all-nighter” to make repairs to the boat in time for Thursday’s racing.

‌And after coming through another tight battle with American Magic, to win 5-3, he said he was confident his team were all the better for the fact they had been pushed so hard.

‌“No doubt,” he said. “Listen, I’ve got a huge amount of respect for Ben. I’ve sailed with him, against him. Ineos will be a tough test. But I honestly think the biggest thing is just that we had such a close series against American Magic, that will be key. We learnt so much from it. I don’t think we had a day when there wasn’t a lead change. So that just shows how close it was.”

‌Ineos have beaten Luna Rossa the last two times the teams have faced each other. Both races were during the double round robin phase of the challenger series, the second of which was a sail-off for top spot. Ineos’s victory gave them the right to pick their semi-final opponent.

‌Ainslie opted for Alinghi, the Swiss challenger, who had struggled in the round robins. And the British team duly won 5-2, albeit while exhibiting some issues with their manoeuvres in light winds.

‘We’re ready for another fight against Ineos’

‌Asked whether he thought Ineos would be praying for stronger winds next week, Spithill replied: “I don’t know about that. We all have our strengths and weaknesses and Ineos are a tough team. What I do know is we have just come through adversity. Our shore team were like zombies this morning after pulling an all-nighter [to make repairs]. But I never doubted they would.

‌“Coming through like this gives us real momentum. We were under big pressure and we prevailed. And we’re ready for another fight against Ineos.”

‌Tom Slingsby, the defeated co-helm of American Magic, also predicted Luna Rossa would prevail based on how close his team had pushed the Italians. “I said before I thought the team who won this semi would beat Ineos,” he said. “That’s no slight on Ineos. I just think the closeness of the battle is so important in these series and all our races were super-tight. Luna Rossa will have learnt so much from them.

‌“So I think Luna Rossa will go on and beat Ineos in the final. It will be a hard-fought battle. And that will then give Luna Rossa a good shot of beating New Zealand in the final.

‌Slingsby added: “You never know what the Kiwis have up their sleeve. They’ve probably got new foils, rudders and sails, all coming online soon. But at the same time, as I said, the challenger selection series makes a very battle-hardened challenger for that final.”

‌Ineos did not sail on Thursday, with much of the team given the day off to regroup before the resumption of hostilities next week. The extra day ought to have bought the British team a bit of time to plan and test a few tweaks before declaring their components for the final.