The more things change, the more they stay the same. Different boats, different location, and four years down the line, Oracle Team USA and Emirates Team New Zealand will face each other again in a winner-takes-all affair.

And while the “Auld Mug” itself is not at stake in race 12 of the second round robin in the Louis Vuitton America’s Cup Qualifiers, there is still plenty riding on the outcome this afternoon on the Great Sound.

A win for Team New Zealand would cement their place at the top of the standings and put them on their way to earning a point’s advantage going into the America’s Cup Match.

It would also maintain the serious momentum that Peter Burling and his team have built up over the past several days, which was highlighted by near-perfect wins yesterday against SoftBank Team Japan and Groupama Team France.

Fast starts, ever faster speeds, and two races with close to 100 per cent foiling gave New Zealand an aura of a team destined to progress to the later stages of the competition.

Burling, too, has the look of a man at peace with himself and his surroundings. “The boys were sailing really well today and at times it does allow me to get my head out of the boat and look around, and try and make some smart decisions,” he said. “One thing today, the course was a little more skewed than it normally is, so it was actually a pretty easy day tactically with not a lot of passing lanes.

“For ourselves, we managed to get off the start well a few times and that made life a lot easier the other way.”

More importantly, as far as the rest of the field is concerned, a win for New Zealand would deny Oracle the advantage they would dearly love to take into their title defence starting on June 17.

The likes of Nathan Outteridge, the Artemis Racing skipper, his Land Rover BAR counterpart Sir Ben Ainslie, and Dean Barker, of SoftBank Team Japan, will no doubt be cheering on Burling today; much like Burling was cheering for Outteridge as Artemis condemned Oracle to only their second defeat of the Qualifiers.

“We’re really happy with how we went today,” Burling said. “We’ve been learning a lot and improving a lot, and feel like we’ve got a lot left. Today, we felt like we stepped it up a level to what we’ve sailed in the past.

“It’s fair to say we were definitely cheering for Artemis in that race, and it’s great that we have that opportunity to go into that race with a bit more pressure [on Oracle] tomorrow — that’s what we’re really excited about. We enjoy those opportunities to put ourselves under a bit more pressure and learn from it.”

There is no doubting that New Zealand are the favourites to be challenging Oracle once again in two weeks’ time, although Burling said his team would prepare for it “like any other race”.

For Jimmy Spithill, the Oracle skipper, the disappointment of a second defeat by Artemis was offset by the pride in his shore team, who got Oracle back out on to the water after the boat