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Before the Louis Vuitton Final got underway, Emirates had spent time in Valencia racing against the Defender of the 32nd America's Cup, Alinghi. DALTON said the quick victory over Luna Rossa will give them an opportunity to search for extra speed in NZL 92 to match up to the Swiss team, 'The programme over the next 12 days is that the time has allowed us - because of winning 5-0, which was as much as a surprise to us as to Luna Rossa and everyone else - to go into testing phase. We're under no illusions of the pace of Alinghi from a straight boatspeed point of view, and the depth of their technology, and the skill of their yachtsmen. So they're a pretty formidable package, and if we can extract some more out of NZL 92, we have a window, and we'd like to take full advantage of that.

'In some ways we're just checking in on some of the things we did in Auckland. And because we stayed in Auckland as long as we did, and with the help of private individuals flying the boats up here, it allowed us not to get into the situation that maybe Luna Rossa found themselves in after the Semi Finals where they were still looking at configurations for the first time and evaluating them.

'We're just re-evaluating things that we think we already know, but in the conditions of Valencia, with a lot more spectator chop at the top mark, and the wind is quite sheary here. It was a good sea breeze today [Monday], but we've seen some quite light sea breezes. So we're just rechecking things here from Auckland.

'When we've done that later in the week, then we'll take some more time off, and then we'll get into that period of getting ready for Alinghi.'

The America's Cup Match and Challenger/Defender Series are designated as ISAF Special Events. For more information on the America's Cup, the Louis Vuttion Acts and the teams competing, visit the official America's Cup website - www.americascup.com.

For a complete list of all the news about the America's Cup 2007 CLICK HERE.