The crew of Luna Rossa overcame fears they might lose their mast during Louis Vuitton Cup racing today to post their 11th win in a row.

The Italian challenge from the Prada syndicate remain the only unbeaten team in the America’s Cup challenger series after round robin two kicked off on Auckland’s Hauraki Gulf today in moderate winds averaging around 12 knots.

Luna Rossa tactician Torben Grael said a broken runner placed extreme pressure on the mast, so the Italians diverted some of that load onto the mainsail.

The other favoured challengers in the series, AmericaOne and Young America, also posted comfortable wins today, while the unfancied French boat 6 Sens gave Stars n Stripes a tough test early on in their race.

6 Sens, which underwent radical changes during the break between the first two round robins, cleared the start line ahead of the Denis Conner boat, but allowed Stars n Stripes the favoured side of the course in the winds as they came back to win the race.

Japan’s Asura produced an impressive improvement on their first races, beating Abracadabra by more than three minutes.

The Young Australians took their new boat out for testing in the Hauraki Gulf, and will sail the former 1995 One Australia syndicate boat tomorrow.

The boat is a sister to the One Australia boat which sank off San Diego in the last cup, and is the only boat to actually beat Team New Zealand on the water in that regatta.

However the interim decision by an arbitration panel to allow the Australians to pick up the charter on One Australia has not been popular with other syndicates.

The Spanish Challenge has formally protested the move, and the panel will make its final decision on the charter between the second and third round robins.