Team New Zealand overcame gear failure to all but book themselves a place in the Louis Vuitton Cup final with another demolition of Luna Rossa in San Francisco today.



It was just the second two-boat race of the troubled America's Cup regatta and Dean Barker's crew were almost as impressive as they were a week ago as they crushed the Italians again, this time by 2min 19sec.



And they did it despite losing their jib sail on the third leg, the first upwind beat.



A broken clip at the top of the jib forced them to bring the head-sail down and they jettisoned it overboard.



They were content to sail the rest of the course a sail short, relying on the power of their massive wingsail to generate enough boat speed to not only hold off Luna Rossa but actually increase their lead around the seven-leg course in 18 knot winds.

They covered the 15.42 nautical miles in 48min 10sec and posted a top speed of 38.72 knots, compared to 37.73 knots for Luna Rossa Challenge.

That will be a crushing psychological blow to their challenger rivals and another alarm bell for America's Cup holders Oracle.

Emirates Team New Zealand are fast and unflappable on board Aotearoa.



The only question mark over the New Zealand performance came when their chase boat rushed to get the abandoned sail and appeared to get in front of Luna Rossa, forcing the huge cat to tack away.



But that potential loss of time for Luna Rossa was small change in the bigger scheme of things.



In the pre-race posturing Luna Rossa helmsman Chris Draper said the Italians would be happy to make up two minutes today, given the aerodynamic modifications they had made to their AC72 after being spanked by 5min 23sec a week ago.



They managed to achieve that. But how much of that was down to their improvements and how much was down to the depowered New Zealand boat is the question.



So New Zealand can now push into a developments phase, looking to squeeze even more out of their boat ahead of the Louis Vuitton Cup final which starts on August 17.



It would take an absolute catastrophe for them not to make that now.



They have two more round-robin matches against Luna Rossa (Wednesday and Monday) and the prospect of two more free points in the continued absence of Sweden's Artemis Racing.



Luna Rossa can't close that gap on the points table any easier than they can catch the Kiwis on the course.



The Italians will have to wait and see what sort of package Artemis come up with when their second boat is launched this week to try to be ready for the semifinals.



Luna Rossa did a good job in an aggressive start today to gain the windward side of the course but Team New Zealand had the acceleration and took a 10sec lead from the short first leg.



They stretched that to more than 300 metres and 25sec on the downwind second leg.



Then the dramas began with the sail problems providing plenty of work for makeshift bowman Adam Beashel.



But the New Zealanders held their cool to actually accelerate away.



Team New Zealand's lead on the marks:



1st: 10sec



2nd: 25sec



3rd: 42sec



4th: 1min 17sec



5th: 1min 56sec



6th: 2min 34sec



Finish: 2min 19sec



Team New Zealand crew list - Skipper: Dean Barker; tactician: Ray Davies; wing trimmer: Glenn Ashby; trimmer: James Dagg; bow: Adam Beashel; pit: Jeremy Lomas; grinders: Chris Ward, Rob Waddell, Grant Dalton, Chris McAsey; floater/Grinder: Derek Saward.



Luna Rossa crew list - Skipper/pit: Max Sirena; helmsman: Chris Draper; tactician: Francesco Bruni; wing trimmer: Xabi Fernandez; trimmer: Pierluigi de Felice; bow: Nick Hutton: freestyle: Marco Montis; grinders: Lele Marino, Giles Scott, Wade Morgan, David Carr.