Team Luna Rossa’s preparation and training for the 34th America’s Cup is still ongoing in Auckland, New Zeland.

Some important decisions have been made in the last few days on the afterguard of the AC72 Luna Rossa catamaran, who will be participating in the Louis Vuitton Cup – America’s Cup Challenger Series – in San Francisco, CA, starting from July 6th.

Chris Draper has been chosen as helmsman and Francesco Bruni will be the tactician, although he will still helm the AC45 Luna Rossa Swordfish catamaran during the upcoming ACWS event in Naples.

Luna Rossa skipper Max Sirena declared: “In all America’s Cup challenges you reach the point when this decision needs to be made. During these months Chris Draper has proved to be the best candidate to cover this role and I am convinced that his partnership with Francesco Bruni as a tactician will be one of our strengths. We may, for some races, decide to adopt a format in which Francesco Bruni will steer the boat in the pre-start, but this is a call that we will make from time to time, depending on the circumstances”.