Luna Rossa Will Race Alinghi In The Quarter Finals

Luna Rossa Will Race Alinghi In The Quarter Finals

Luna Rossa ended Round Robin Two in fourth place gaining access to the double chance group of the Quarter Finals. This afternoon Alinghi Challenge, top scorer at the end of Round Robin Two, announced officially that Team Prada is their choice opponent for the Quarter Finals that will start on November 12th. Starting next week, Alinghi and Luna Rossa will face each other in a best of seven series. The first who reaches the four victories mark will move on directly to the Semi Finals, scheduled for December 9th. The losing team instead, will have a second chance in the Repechage of the Quarter Finals, scheduled for November 23. Also the Swedish team Victory Challenge, who placed fifth at the end of Round Robin Two and is top scorer of the single chance group, announced today its choice of opponent for the Quarter Finals. They will race the French of Le Defi.

Francesco de Angelis, skipper of Luna Rossa, said today after the announcement was made public: "Alinghi's choice is not a surprise. The mere fact of being in the first four placed, guaranteed that we would face a strong opponent. Alinghi chose us, sooner or later we would have had the opportunity to face them. Now we have an important week of work ahead of us with the modified ITA 80. During this week we will have to make our choice of the boat to use against Alinghi and run a series of tests that are also important for the near future. It is a difficult match, but it will also be for us an important verification of where we are in our program."

RACE FORMAT FOR THE QUARTER FINALS only the first eight teams placed at the end of the two round robins move on to the Quarter Finals, which are organized in two phases: a direct access to Semi Finals and a Repechage. The top four scorers form the double chance group and the fourth to eighth form the single chance group. At the start of the series, the leaders of the two groups choose their opponents among the other teams in the same group. In the Quarter Finals, the 4 teams in the double chance group race, one on one, in a best of seven series. The two winners move directly to the Semi Finals, while the losing teams have a second chance in the Repechage of the Quarter Finals. Also the four single chance group teams race, one on one, in a best of seven series. In this case though, the two losers are eliminated from the Louis Vuitton Cup and the winners move on to the Repechage. In the Repechage round, the two losers from the double chance group face the winners of the single chance group in a best of seven series. Again the two winners move on to the Semi Finals, while the losers are eliminated.

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