Alinghi Red Bull Racing takes their first point on Day 5 of the Louis Vuitton Cup
by Alinghi Red Bull Racing 3 Sep 18:31 BST
29 August - 7 October 2024
Alinghi Red Bull Racing BoatOne racing Orient Express Racing Team on Day 1, Louis Vuitton Cup Round Robin 2 in Barcelona, Spain. 3 September © Alinghi Red Bull Racing / Samo Vidic
Alinghi Red Bull Racing had no room for mistakes on Day 5 of the Louis Vuitton Cup, both on the leaderboard and on the racetrack.
In unstable conditions, the Swiss crew kept their nerve in their match against the French team, battling hard to win their first point in this stage and remaining competitive for the coming races.
Today brought stormy weather and a challenging racecourse for both the Swiss and French teams as they faced off for the second time this round. Seconds before the start, Swiss supporters would have been holding their breath as BoatOne came off its foils, but a quick recovery saw the Swiss beat the French across the line. A misstep by the French on the first leg left them struggling to regain flight, giving the Swiss a significant lead by the top mark. For the remainder of the race, the Swiss team maintained their concentration in shifty conditions to stay a kilometre ahead until the finish. It was a key race for Alinghi Red Bull Racing, and now with a point on the board, it puts the Swiss team back in the game for the Semi-Finals.
Due to unstable conditions there will be potential changes to the match schedule, so stay tuned for updates on tomorrow's racing.
View today's race results and current standings
Arnaud Psarofaghis, Skipper: "From the beginning, we really focused on our own race because the conditions were so tricky. On a day like today, you can easily put yourself in a really bad spot and end up with no breeze compared to the other boat. You never know what can happen, so you need to stay focused until the end.
When you're at the bottom, you can only go up. Right now we're going in the right direction. Tomorrow we'll go out there with the same energy that we had this morning, go for every point, and we'll see what happens at the end of the week."
Franco Noti, Cyclor: "It wasn't an easy day to get the win today. The conditions were really unstable, and we didn't know what to expect. We've been waiting a long time for this victory, and it's finally here, so very, very happy. The Driving Group really delivered under very high pressure, so I'm very proud of all of them.
The plan is to keep building up from here. We're still standing, we're still in the game, but we haven't won anything yet, so we've got to deliver in the next days."
Pietro Sibello, Head Coach: "We were looking for something to change the momentum, and we think the solid performance against Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli on Sunday was exactly that. Now we've got a win, we're a bit relieved, but tomorrow we have another important day—two races in which we need to keep winning. Today it looked like we are on the way up, and tomorrow will be a very important day to confirm it."