Luna Rossa Challenge
| Luna Rossa Challenge | |
|---|---|
| Career | |
| Yacht club |
   |
| Established | 1997 |
| Nation |
 |
| Team principal(s) | Patrizio Bertelli |
| Skipper | Francesco de Angelis |
| Notable sailors | Torben Grael |
| Notable victories |
2000 Louis Vuitton Cup 2011 Extreme Sailing Series |
| Yachts | |
| Sail no. | Boat name |
| ITA–86 | ITA 86 |
| ITA–94 | ITA 94 |
Luna Rossa Challenge (Italian: literally, Red Moon Challenge), originally named Prada Challenge, is an Italian sailboat racing syndicate first created to compete for the 2000 America's Cup. The team has won the Louis Vuitton Cup once, in 2000, and therefore was the Challenger for the final America's Cup race against the defending champion team, losing to Team New Zealand. It is sponsored by Prada, and from 2005 also by Telecom Italia.
On 26 June 2017, Grant Dalton announced Luna Rossa were the Challenger of Record for the 36th America's Cup. On 13 March 2018, Jimmy Spithill, skipper for the team in the 2007 Louis Vuitton Cup, announced he was returning to Luna Rossa Challenge.[1]
2000 Louis Vuitton Cup
In 2000, skippered by Francesco de Angelis and competing as Prada Challenge, the team won the Louis Vuitton Cup, prevailing 5–4 against AmericaOne. The team earned the right to challenge for the 2000 America's Cup, losing 5–0 to defending Cup champion Team New Zealand, in Auckland, New Zealand.
2003 Louis Vuitton Cup
In 2003, still skippered by Francesco de Angelis and competing as Prada Challenge, the team contested for the 2003 Louis Vuitton Cup, but were eliminated by OneWorld in the semi-finals.
2007 Louis Vuitton Cup
In 2007, skippered by Jimmy Spithill and competing as Luna Rossa Challenge, the team contested for the 2007 Louis Vuitton Cup. They were beaten in the finals of the Louis Vuitton Cup by Emirates Team New Zealand, 5–0, still (to 2017) the only time that a team failed to score a point in the Louis Vuitton Cup finals.
2009 and 2010 Louis Vuitton Trophy
With the extensive court challenges leading to the 2010 America's Cup, there was no Louis Vuitton Cup competition. During this period, Luna Rossa Challenge joined other teams racing International America's Cup Class yachts in the 2009 Louis Vuitton Pacific Series and in the 2010 Louis Vuitton Trophy, La Maddalena event.
2011–2013 America's Cup World Series
Luna Rossa were last to enter the 2013 America's Cup but brought two AC45 to get the team up to speed and compete in the newly developed America's Cup World Series. The boats called Luna Rossa Piranha and Swordfish were helmed by British sailors Chris Draper and Paul Campbell-James to get the team up to speed with multihulls but with a primarily Italian crew.
2013 Louis Vuitton Cup
Skippered by Massimiliano “Max” Sirena, Luna Rossa Challenge contested for the 2013 Louis Vuitton Cup. In order to overcome the late start of the campaign, a deal was signed with Emirates Team New Zealand to share information on the design of their AC72 catamarans. The two teams ended up facing each other in the challengers’ final, which Emirates Team New Zealand won 7–1. Luna Rossa Challenge scored its only win when Emirates was disqualified in the second race of the finals.
2017 Louis Vuitton Cup
In June 2014, Luna Rossa confirmed they would compete for the 2017 Louis Vuitton Cup. A few months later, before the preliminary 2015–16 America's Cup World Series started competition, it was decided that the 2017 America's Cup would switch to the AC50 yacht. Luna Rossa withdrew in protest.
