BARCELONA (AFP) – The Italian and British teams both scored a victory each as the Louis Vuitton Cup final began on Thursday off the coast of Barcelona.

The victor will face double defending champions Emirates Team New Zealand in the 37th America’s Cup final in October.

Italy’s Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli won the first race but Ineos Britannia bit back in the second race.

This year’s Louis Vuitton Cup final is a repeat of the 2021 Prada Cup final, which Luna Rossa triumphed 7-1 in, eventually losing against the Kiwis in the America’s Cup final.

The Italians got off to a perfect start in the opener, crossing the line before their opponents and defending their advantage skillfully with perfect positioning.

Luna Rossa opened up a lead of 450 metres by the third gate as their boat nicknamed the ‘Silver Bullet’ coped well with the choppy waters, and they cruised to victory by 46 seconds.

“It’s very hard, (the conditions are) probably the windiest we’ve raced in so far and the waves are making the left side of the course very hard, but the boys did a fantastic job,” said Luna Rossa helmsman Francesco Bruni.

“I think we are really solid at the start and in the manuevers.”

Ineos Britannia skipper Ben Ainslie admitted the race was won and lost in the pre-start.

“We made a bit of a mess of the start and they just had the legs on us,” admitted Ainslie.

“We need to work out how to get a bit more speed and get in front and stay in front…

“If I’m honest it feels like they’ve got the legs on us… we have to get our nose in front, not start like we did that last one, that won’t do it for us.”

Both teams arrived late to the line at the start of the second race but Britannia were fractionally ahead.

The British team opened up a lead of 17 seconds at the second gate and made no mistakes through the eight legs, triumphing by 18 seconds.

“We had a good chat with our coaches about what went wrong in the first place, we did sail a bit better in the second race, it was a good one,” added Ainslie.

“It was a better start… better off the line and managed to get a good jump up on the top of the first beat.

“The Italians kept coming at us and kept it close.”