Who will take the high road to final?

‘‘You trade that off against development gains – we have been on a massive rate of improvement and there is still a lot to do to make the boat go faster’’

Sir Ben Ainslie

British skipper on the pros and cons of advancing directly to the Prada Cup final.

The outcome of the next race in the Prada Cup will lead to some big decisions on how two of the America’s Cup challengers’ campaigns continue.

A win today for round-robin points leaders INEOS Team UK secures their spot in the Prada Cup final, without contesting the semis, and means tomorrow’s race against Luna Rossa becomes optional.

Both the British skipper, Sir Ben Ainslie, and the Italian’s cohelmsman, Francesco Bruni, still seem undecided on whether they’d prefer racing experience over boat development time if tomorrow didn’t matter.

‘‘It’s a trade-off’’ Ainslie told a media conference in Auckland yesterday ahead of the resumption in racing, mulling over what path he would take if the team clinches the round robins.

‘‘You would have three weeks without any intense racing,’’ Ainslie said of the downside of taking the direct route into the final.

‘‘You trade that off against development gains – we have been on a massive rate of improvement and there is still a lot to do to make the boat go faster,’’ he said.

Both teams would need to agree to scrub tomorrow’s scheduled encounter, should the British win today, and Bruni, who co-helms alongside Jimmy Spithill, was noncommittal.

‘‘I cannot promise [that we would race] but for sure it is an opportunity,’’ Bruni said.

If Luna Rossa can win both races against INEOS Team UK it would go direct to the final, leaving the British to have to sail against American Magic in the semifinal.

‘‘We’ll have to check what happens on Saturday, what condition the boat is in – training is always good,’’ he said, not revealing whether the Italians would like to race tomorrow regardless.

‘‘We have to check the state of the boat, and what we need to do to try to get better.’’

Spithill, who steers from the other side of the Italian boat, said the uncertainty of the future scenario was part of the excitement of today’s race.

‘‘There’s a real incentive for both teams to win – if we do that we race on Sunday as well so there is a lot on the line, and that’s a great test for the two of us,’’ said Spithill.

Should Ainslie’s team win today’s race against Luna Rossa, the pair can take until 4pm tomorrow to decide whether to race again, but that decision is likely to be made much sooner.

The unusual format of the challenger series is a consequence of there being only three challengers in a format where there would normally be a pair of semifinals.

The paths have been skewed further by the absence of the third challenger American Magic, whose boat Patriot is being rebuilt after a capsize last Sunday, will miss this weekend and return for the semifinal on January 29.

Patriot needs to be rebuilt and certified by regatta officials by Wednesday next week, allowing just days of warm up before Friday’s semifinal opener against the ‘‘losing’’ team from this weekend.

The first team to win four races in the semifinal, goes through to the Prada Cup final.

INEOS Team UK has four points, Luna Rossa has two, and if the Italians can win both races this weekend and level that score, it will secure the direct entry to the final.

The tie-breaker is a points draw decided by the team which won the final encounter, declared the winner of the round robins.

Both teams this weekend must cross the start line also in a ‘‘ghost race’’ that would have been against American Magic, before race officials declare the starting boat the winner, and award it one point.