New Zealand lead the series 3-1, with Oracle officially on -1, after Team USA won the second race by 7.7 seconds.
Earlier Team New Zealand passed their toughest test of the America's Cup thus far as their upwind advantage over Oracle Team USA was further underlined.
The Kiwis won this morning's opening race by 28 seconds. Jimmy Spithill and his held an 18-second lead at the bottom mark, after drawing a windward-leeward penalty on Team NZ at the first mark rounding.
But Team NZ produced a masterclass of upwind sailing, showing better boatspeed, crew-work and tactics to reel in the Oracle boat to take a 29-second lead heading into the final downwind run.
Team NZ skipper Dean Barker said after a poor first run, he was pleased with the way he was able to get back into the race upwind.
"We didn't sail our best run down there, we probably gave away a few lengths that we shouldn't have. But we did a nice job upwind and managed to close the gap," said Barker.
Oracle looked jittery in the pre-start, entering the start area slightly late, then digging their bows in on the first gybe. But they recovered well to get a good start off the line, and has Team NZ in real trouble when they were penalised at the first mark.
