One thing most observers agreed was that Mascalzone was the teams that showed most improvement and consistency during last week regatta.

Finishing third not only were they the best Italian syndicate, they managed to position themselves a mere point behind Emirates Team NZ and ahead of the other top challengers BMW Oracle and Luna Rossa. Although they didn't win any of the races they never crossed the finish line worse than 6th.

"It can be really important for some reasons but it can also be very dangerous for various other reasons", commented the Italian skipper, Vasco Vascotto. "You have to be realistic and not over react to these good results".

"The fleet in Valencia has proven to be very competitive and there are 11 challenger boats that can win every single race", he added. "It is very important to keep working in the same direction and not lose focus on the essential things, the good maneuvers, the good tactics and excellent sailing. We want to be a team nice to watch because if we sail well we have more options to win the races.

"I would just be crazy if I said we were not satisfied with her", he answered about the performance of the new ITA 99. "Obviously, it is very good to be sure you have a boat that can race against any other yacht here and I think we have it".

"But as I said, we have to sail well. The boat is not a problem, we sail fast in almost all conditions, we raced in light air, 8-9 knots, and we were satisfied. It's not simply a matter of the boat being fast, it's also an issue of sails and crew work. Everybody in this team has worked hard in order to achieve better performance every single day. In addition, our sails have now allowed us a good improvement in conditions that were challenging in the past".

Concerning the team's goal for the 32e America's Cup, Vasco Vascotto refuse to speculate on the future.

"I have always said that my goal was to sail well", he said. "Who knows? It could even turn out to be better than that but it could also be worse if you don't sail well".