The Defender of the America’s Cup, Team Alinghi, showed it is still a force to be reckoned with on Friday with two strong races to take the series lead in the Valencia Louis Vuitton Act 3.

The BMW Oracle Racing team also had two good performances on the day, with a second and third place finish, the former all the more remarkable for having to re-start for being over the starting line early.

France’s K-Challenge also punched above its weight today. Sailing a 2000-generation boat, FRA-57, Thierry Peponnet’s team finished in fourth place in both races, and after a disastrous opening race to Act 3, his team now sits in fifth position.

For BMW Oracle and Alinghi, the day offered at least a partial answer to the many questions being raised in light of their ‘weaker than usual’ performances over the past week. In short, these are still two very strong America’s Cup teams.

The leaders at the beginning of the day, Emirates Team New Zealand, had a spectacular opening race, and at that point, appeared to be running away with the series. With some of its main rivals starting prematurely in the opening race on Friday, Emirates TNZ streaked to its second victory of the Louis Vuitton Act 3.

But in the second contest of the day, it was the Kiwis who were too aggressive at the start, and after re-starting correctly, Grant Dalton’s team could only manage a sixth place finish.

The result leaves Team Alinghi one point clear at the top of the table. BMW Oracle Racing and Luna Rossa are both six points behind the Kiwis, with Luna Rossa getting the edge from the tie-breaking formula that favours stronger results in individual races.

Whilst both teams have a second and third place finish, the Italians also can claim a fourth, while the Americans next best race is a fifth.

It wasn’t a good day for the Italian +39 Challenge. Although the team managed a sixth place finish in the first race of the day, it was forced to abandon the second contest after one lap of the course with equipment problems.

The team was trailing the fleet at the time. Racing was initially postponed with the wind very shifty, despite being a full 12-14 knots. The breeze became soft and shifty in the first race, and although it regained velocity later in the afternoon, the shifts continued to make the race course a difficult challenge for the tacticians. Racing continues with two Fleet Races scheduled for Saturday afternoon.

Results