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The count down for the America’s Cup has started 

The countdown begins. On August 22nd, with the prologue of the third Preliminary Regatta which anticipates the Round Robins of the Louis Vuitton Cup (starting on the 29th), we enter the heart of the 37th Louis Vuitton America’s Cup. It will then be possible to discover the real values on the field given that everyone and six new AC75s, including Defender Emirates Team New Zealand, will be racing. An opportunity for the Defender to take the measurements of his opponents and perhaps already identify who could be the challenger he will meet on October 12th for The Match. The organizers have set up global coverage (targeting one billion spectators) for a show with a high adrenaline content. And it couldn’t be otherwise. The new AC75s promise to be faster than those of the 36th edition where American Magic reached 53.51 knots, or 97.73 km/h! Hold on tight, let’s get started! (All our post on the America’s Cup, here)

The America’s Cup in Barcelona’s famous Park Güell, conceived by Spanish architect Antoni Gaudí.

An automotive Cup

Among the many themes of the 37th America’s Cup, the second edition on board the AC75s, there is also that of the on-water confrontation between two teams closely linked to the world of motor racing: INEOS Britannia and Alinghi Red Bull Racing. In fact, it will be interesting to see what the collaboration of Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 led by Toto Wolff who contributed to the development of the AC75 of Sir Ben Ainslie’s team and that of Red Bull Racing which supports Alinghi and gave its contribution with the F1 team led (until the end of 2024) by Adrian Newey. For both teams, a research power and a source of information never seen before in the America’s Cup circus. Even if Sir Jim Ractcliffe, founder and owner of INEOS, explained that the team of designers and engineers involved in the Cup is made up of 200 people while in the Ineos Mercedes Formula 1 team the design team reaches 1,000 people.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe, president of INEOS, ready to board the AC40 of the English team.

America’s Cup: a record Cup for Patrizio Bertelli

His portrait is already in the gallery of the America’s Cup Hall of Fame at the Herreshoff Marine Museum in Bristol, Rhode Island, USA, but Patrizio Bertelli with the 37th edition consolidates his position in the history of the America’s Cup. For him, this is in fact the sixth participation. One more than the Englishman Sir Thomas Lipton (… the one of tea) who between 1899 and 1930 with his Shamrocks attempted to attack the Auld Mugh five times. Patrizio Bertelli, Chairman of the Board of Directors and Executive Director of the Prada Group and Chairman of the Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli) after having founded the “Luna Rossa” team in 1997, launched his first challenge at the America’s Cup in 2000. A challenge repeated in editions of 2003, 2007, 2013 and 2021. Twice he came to the duel with the Defender: in 2000, at the end of the Louis Vuitton Cup, and in 2021 by winning the selection of the Prada Cup. A great enthusiast, he is the owner of a important fleet of classic boats with a series of real jewels such as Linnet, a gaff cutter designed in 1905 by the American designer Nat Herreshoff and, again the theme of the America’s Cup, Kookaburra III, the unfortunate Australian Defender which lost the duel in 1987 with the American Challenger Stars & Stripes 87 helmed by Dennis Conner who brought the Auld Mug back to the States after losing it in 1983. Patrizio Bertelli declared that in the event of victory, the next edition of the America’s Cup will be held in Cagliari, Sardinia, where Luna Rossa has its base.

Patrizio Bertelli Chairman of Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli.

Emilio Martinelli

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