Change to Prada Cup race schedule in wake of American Magic absence due to capsize damage

Tom Cary
·2 min read
Crew from the United States' American Magic boat Patriot and Team New Zealand attempt to keep Patriot afloat after it capsized - AP
Crew from the United States' American Magic boat Patriot and Team New Zealand attempt to keep Patriot afloat after it capsized - AP

The race schedule for this weekend’s Prada Cup has been amended due to American Magic’s inability to compete following their spectacular capsize last Sunday.

Ineos Team UK will now face Luna Rossa on Saturday and Sunday rather than Friday and Sunday as originally planned.

Prada Cup organisers issued an amendment to the Protocol for Round Robins 3 and 4 of the Prada Cup Challenger Selection overnight on Tuesday.

In the wake of American Magic’s accident, which has left the United States’ challengers with a major rebuild job on their hands, GB will now face Italy once on Saturday and once on Sunday, both races scheduled for 4pm local time (3am UK time).

After finishing the races, both teams will have to start a ‘ghost race’ against American Magic in order to allow regatta director Iain Murray to award the point to the relevant team. The ‘ghost race’ will be suspended after a few minutes.

Should Ineos beat Luna Rossa on Saturday, Sunday’s race result would in effect be redundant as Britain would be guaranteed to finish top of the round-robin phase of the series. As such, they would go directly through to the Prada Cup Final, a first-to-seven series starting on Feb 13. In that event the two teams will have the choice whether or not to race on Sunday.

Should Luna Rossa win both races, the Italians would finish top of the round-robin series and Ineos would have to face American Magic in a first-to-four semi-final starting on Jan 29.

The winner of the Prada Cup will face defenders New Zealand in the America’s Cup match in March.