Luna Rossa elected to come in on starboard to start, where it holds an 11-2 record in America's Cup challengers series racing.

With both teams winning nearly every one of their races when leading around the first marker, the smallest advantage in the start Friday could be significant in reaching the America's Cup, which starts June 23.

The Kiwis tried to gain their own psychological advantage Wednesday, practicing against defending champion Alinghi off Port America's Cup.

"We prepare our team as best as we can for Luna Rossa," Emirates Team New Zealand tactician Terry Hutchinson said today. "In the previous semifinals, Luna Rossa was maybe underestimated, and we don't want to make that mistake."

The Italians romped to a 5-1 win over Larry Ellison's BMW Oracle Racing in the semifinals. Luna Rossa helmsman James Spithill dominated the sole American entry out of the starting box as the Italians led around 18 of 18 markers.

The Italians entered that series as underdogs, and the Kiwis are slight favorites for this series, which is a rematch of the 2000 America's Cup, when the Kiwis sailed to a 5-0 sweep over Luna Rossa.

Luna Rossa sailed alongside the two boats yesterday, working on its straight line speed and its tacking and gybing.

"It was pretty tight with some tacking and gybing ... it's just racing against another opponent," Luna Rossa afterguard Andy Horton said of the Kiwis' practice against Alinghi. "I wasn't impacted."

The Kiwis still want to improve their pre-starts. Helmsman Dean Barker was better with each semifinals race against Desafio Espanol and knows positioning out of the start and the first cross will likely dictate who controls the race.

"You take it one start, one beat, one leg at a time," Hutchinson said. "You try to capitalize on mistakes they might make."

BMW Oracle Racing navigator Peter Isler expects the series to go the distance, with the pre-start important, but not necessarily the deciding factor.

"The helmsmen don't want to get too aggressive and risk penalties, because that's a big thing to overcome," said the three-time America's Cup veteran.

"A good start (to the series) is important because once you get on a roll, the momentum can really make the difference," Isler said. "A team starts taking risks when they're down and they really shouldn't because it's a long series."

The Kiwis hold a clear edge in experience, with 48 America's Cup campaigns among crew aboard the NZL-92 yacht compared with 32 for Luna Rossa's ITA-94 boat.

The two boats split their America's Cup challengers series round-robin matches, but the Kiwis are slightly better when the racing is tight and features rapid calls.

Luna Rossa's trump card could be tactician Torben Grael, the most successful Olympic sailor of all time.

The five-time medalist from Brazil has been calling wind shifts with such accuracy that the Italians have had to tack less and can concentrate on winning on long runs where they have excelled.

Though Alinghi appeared to win the upwind and downwind legs against the Kiwis, both teams reportedly used their older boats.