Britannia and Luna Rossa stay even in America’s Cup challenger final

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Britain’s INEOS Britannia and Italy’s Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli each won races to remain even in the America’s Cup challenger final on Monday.

Britannia took the first race by 12 seconds, then Luna Rossa crossed the line 17 seconds ahead in the second to keep the first-to-seven series even at 3-3.

“The racing really showed how evenly matched the boats are in those conditions. It was kind of won or lost on the start,” said Dylan Fletcher, port helm for Britannia. “In that second one we thought we should’ve done enough, but they managed to work a nice little shift on that right hand side and that just seemed enough to get ahead, but it’s close action.”

The teams have split race victories every day so far. Two more races are scheduled for Tuesday.

“We felt that we have some speed. The boat is going well. We are very pleased with the performance of the boat and how we are going,” said Francesco Bruni, port helm for Luna Rossa. “A little mistake in that first start, where we felt that we had a good position. It takes very little to lose control of these boats. We are optimistic about how things are going, but we know it’s going to be a very hard battle.”

The winner will lift the Louis Vuitton Cup and try to topple defending champion Team Emirates New Zealand for the America’s Cup next month.

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