Team New Zealand is eager to engage in America's Cup practice racing this week, but warns not to read too much into results.

A five-day block of official practice racing starts in Bermuda on Tuesday [NZ time] as the clock counts down towards the opening of the round-robin qualifying racing on May 27.

Having only had one day of racing since arriving late at the regatta headquarters, the Kiwis are keen to line out against their five opponents, including cup holders Oracle.

But they are treating it as a "learning and development" week as the need for speed intensifies and new equipment is trialled in race situations.

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"We are definitely looking to do quite a bit of racing," Team New Zealand skipper Glenn Ashby confirmed from Bermuda.

"It will be invaluable. It's always nice to line up against another boat.

"We haven't done a lot of racing and we are very much looking forward to it and we're looking at it very much as a learning and development week.

"So whilst we will be out there doing as much as we can with the racing, we'll be sifting through a whole lot of different bits and pieces.

"Really don't, look at the racing as a real indication of what's going to be on the cards in two weeks time. It will be a great learning experience but it certainly won't be a true indication of where everyone is at."

Ashby said the need to get their radical pedal-powered boat through the intensive measuring process and ticked off by cup officials this week might see them have to forgo some of the build-up racing.

The Kiwis have been an ever-present force on the Great Sound in training and want to engage with their opponents with Ashby keen to see his crew operating under pressure.

That would include the crucial pre-starts and also engaging their rivals in true match-racing duels.

Ashby was coy on whether Team New Zealand would use their new foils but expected performance levels to raise and differ among the teams as they all continued to tinker.

"All the teams will be trialling their last-minute changes," Ashby said.

Sweden's Artemis Racing have been the form team so far with Oracle and Team Japan also having their moments. Britain's Ben Ainslie Racing ahs been a surprising struggler but promising more with their new foils to come while latecomers Team France look the most vulnerable when the challengers fleet are quickly cut from five to four after the round-robin.

Much interest this week will centre on whether Oracle will use their new pedal-powered grinding station on the back of their boat.

Oracle boss Sir Russell Coutts confirmed the defenders would follow Team New Zealand into the leg-powered approach though they would still retain their traditional arm-powered grinding stations as well.

"They haven't changed the grinding system they have, but they are looking to add some grinding capabilities in the back of the cockpit," Coutts told Americascup.com.