Team New Zealand swept two races against Luna Rossa on Wednesday, seizing a 4-1 lead over the Italian boat in quest of a berth in next month's America's Cup.
The Kiwi vessel took a commanding lead in the best-of-13 Louis Vuitton Cup challenger races to determine an opponent for American defenders Oracle.
In a series nagged by one-boat races and mechanical failures plus the May death of a crewman for an already eliminated Swedish challenger during training, the twin bill provided as much excitement as any session so far on San Francisco Bay.
Team New Zealand won the first race by 2 minutes and 17 seconds and captured the second by 1:28.
Luna Rossa came within 18 seconds of the Kiwis at the second turn, the leeward gate, in the second race, but New Zealand sped ahead to lead by 66 seconds at the third mark and kept the edge to win in 24 minutes, 25.91 seconds over the 10.18 nautical-mile course.
New Zealand won the opener over the same layout in 25:37.5.
