ending on 21 February, to defeat the INEOS Team 7–1, advancing from the challenger's pool. Venue The Cup was sailed in New Zealand's Hauraki Gulf, on the east coast of the North Island, outside of Auckland City's Waitematā Harbour as the venue. Italy was announced as the backup venue. Auckland had also previously been the venue for the America's Cup in 2000 and 2003. Infrastructure work was undertaken in Auckland's Wynyard Quarter to prepare for the event. This included dredging of the Outer Viaduct Harbour, installation of new floating infrastructure such as pontoons, and construction of team bases. Five race courses were used, lettered A through to E. Every racing day the race management made a decision on which course would be used. During the Prada Cup, the Auckland Sky Tower was illuminated in red alongside the event logo projected with a variety of animations. The show occurred on the hour and half hour between 9pm and 2am on race days. Boats The America's Cup races have been contested using many historical classes in the past. For the 2021 series Team ENTZ developed a new class of foiling monohulls named the America's Cup 75 or AC75. The boats were required to be "constructed in country". Teams were allowed to build two boats each. The winning yacht of ETNZ is named Te Rehutai, which means 'spirit of the ocean'. Nationality Twenty percent of sailors in each team were required to have passports from that country. The rest must meet a residency requirement: they must reside in that team's country for 380 days from 1 September 2018 to 1 September 2020. Qualifying event The first two of the three planned 2020 America's Cup World Series competitions – in Sardinia and Portsmouth – were cancelled due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on sports. The third event, held over three days in December 2020, was won by Emirates Team New Zealand. A subsequent "Christmas Race" was abandoned due to low wind. None were used as a qualification competition. The cancellations of the earlier regattas meant that the third world series event was the first time that the AC75 class had been sailed in competition anywhere, including by the competitors themselves, before the qualifying series. The successful control of the COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand meant that local activities were able to continue according to schedule and with minimal disruption – including the