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Luna Rossa 'ready to roll'. Italians confident of beating Kiwis for America's Cup shot.
 Luna Rossa are in confident mood ahead of the Louis Vuitton Cup (LVC) final against Team New Zealand, which starts Friday.
The winners of the first-to-five series get to challenge America's Cup holders Alinghi of Switzerland for sailing's most coveted trophy.
The New Zealanders were LVC favourites at the start of the competition but the Italians fear no one after thrashing BMW Oracle of the USA 5-1 in the semi-finals.
"Our team is feeling pretty good," said Luna Rossa's Andy Horton at the pre-race press conference Thursday. "We have had some good practice, some good starts and races...working on some of the things we learned we weren't sharp enough on in the semi-finals.
"And we've had some time off, which is important for any high-level sports team. We feel rested, after being away and doing something that has nothing to do with sailing. "We are ready to roll".
Pundits are predicting a close affair.
The two teams each won one of the showdowns between them in the round-robin stage, which saw Team New Zealand finish top of the standings, while Luna Rossa came third behind Oracle.
Luna Rossa will take heart from the fact that they needed one race fewer to see off the Americans than the Kiwis did to beat Spain's Desafio Espanol (5-2), who on paper were the weakest of the semi-finalists.
Luna Rossa will also be counting on Australian helmsman James Spithill to produce more of the brilliant pre-start manoeuvring that was crucial to the victory over BMW Oracle.
The game of cat-and-mouse the teams play to get a better start often decides races when the boats are well-matched.
Luna Rossa have won the toss for the final which means they have the right to the preferred starboard entry to the start line in the first regatta.
The two yachts look evenly matched for speed. Luna Rossa's ITA 94 may have an edge in strong winds, but the Kiwis' NZL 92 seems better equipped for lighter ones. The crews are expected to adopt very different strategies though.
Luna Rossa have a reputation for boldness, setting courses they believe will take them to better wind without worrying how far this takes them away from their opponents' path. The Kiwis tend to be more conservative, sticking close to the other team's course and capitalizing on any mistakes.
The LVC final gives Luna Rossa the chance to avenge the 2000 America's Cup match.
On that occasion the New Zealanders retained the trophy with a 5-0 whitewash of the Italians - before suffering the same fate against Alinghi in 2003.
But history also has an encouraging precedent for Spithill's team.
In 1992 Italy's Il Moro di Venezia, skippered by legendary French-American yachtsman Paul Cayard, beat New Zealand 5-3 in the LVC final in San Diego.
The Italians lost the ensuing America's Cup match race 4-1 to America3.
In 2002-2003 Luna Rossa were knocked out in the LVC semi-finals by US team One World.
The 2007 America's Cup match race, another first-to-five series, stars June 23.
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