(Reuters) - Lightning during an America's Cup qualifying contest on Tuesday between defenders New Zealand and the in-form Italians prompted officials to abandon racing off Barcelona for the day.
Italy were leading New Zealand, who while competing in the double round-robin stage of the competition as holders of the 'Auld Mug' do not need to qualify, when a bolt struck the sea.
Racing in their sleek 'foiling' carbon-fibre AC75s at speeds of above 40 knots, Italy got the better of the Kiwis at the start and built a dominant lead before they were awarded a race win when New Zealand withdrew after the near lightning hit.
With dark skies and conditions apparently deteriorating in the Mediterranean, officials decided to call off further racing.
Five potential challengers for the America's Cup -- Britain, France, Italy, the United States and Switzerland -- are all taking part in the round-robin stage of the Louis Vuitton Cup, which will decide which one of them is eliminated.
The four surviving teams will go into a semi-final round for a place in the final, which will decide which team goes through to challenge New Zealand for the oldest international sporting trophy, which was first won off the English coast in 1851.
America's Cup campaigns now cost tens of millions of dollars and are fought out in state-of-the-art racing machines in what some equate to the equivalent of Formula One cars.
In Tuesday's other race, which began the second half of the round robin, Switzerland gained a much-needed first win of the series, beating France, who reported technical issues and came off their hydro-foils, to keep themselves in the contest.
The leaderboard, excluding New Zealand, is topped by Italy with four wins, followed by Britain on three, the U.S. with two and Switzerland and France who have only one apiece.
(Reporting by Alexander Smith; Editing by Ken Ferris)
