Team Mascalzone Latino, the team led by syndicate boss Vincenzo Onorato and skippered by Paolo Cian came head to head with one of the big guns of the Louis Vuitton Challenger Series – Oracle BMW Racing – yesterday.

In an eagerly awaited encounter Mascalzone Latino put up a brave fight having started equally with the Americans before tacking off and heading towards the starboard hand advantage. However, the Oracle BMW Racing team picked up the first left-hand shift to move into the lead, although a tacking duel up the first beat brought the boats to within half a boatlength of each other.

Down the first run, Team Mascalzone Latino attacked hard, playing the windshifts and increasing wind pressure to perfection and closed to within 11 seconds by the leeward mark. However, from there on the Oracle BMW Racing team headed by Larry Ellison and steered by Chris Dickson showed impressive straight-line speed and picked up some beautiful windshifts to dominate the contest and eventually record a win. Mascalzone Latino fought hard all afternoon in 9-15 knots of breeze and stayed in contention to the end, never giving up and displaying impressive crew work.