Red Bull Air Race 2015
By Ruggero Piccoli
The third act of Red Bull Air Race 2015 was held on May 30 and 31 in the city of Rovinji, Croatia. On the original planning, this race should be staged in Sochi, but during the first months of the year, the Air Race Staff faced financial and organizational problems in Sochi due to the situation of the international markets, as underlined by Erich Wolf, General Manager of the Red Bull Air Race,“Our partners in Russia are facing extremely high exchange rates. This makes it impossible to set up an infrastructure fulfilling our high standards and also to provide our fans with tickets at affordable prices. Nevertheless, we still hope to stage a race in Sochi in the future.”
By the way, Rovinji has been for sure a good alternative with its beautiful scenario. The small city is a well-known tourist site located in the central part of the coast on the Istrian Peninsula. Its pre-Roman origin and the beautiful waters of the Adriatic Sea make the city the second most popular tourist site of Croatia. Together with the success of last year’s race won by Arch who beat Bonhomme for just eight hundredths of a second, the narrowest margin of victory in the sport’s history, these have been good guarantees to bring the race again in Rovinji for the second straight year. The race in Rovinj, the first of four European stops, paid tribute to the rich aviation tradition in the region, which includes nearby Slovenia, Austria, and Italy. For Dolderer and Martin Sonka of the Czech Republic as well as for Arch, it was also a sort of home race.
As in the past edition, the race track was located in the little cove in front of the ancient city’s hill, but it had some differences, according to the pilots interviewed after the reconnaissance flight, “The race track is similar to last year’s, only it’s a bit shorter.” The big challenge in this track was the wind, which can be intense with frequently changing direction, “Every time you complete a lap, it’s like you are on a different track. You have to think in a different way; you have to use a different path.”
The pilots arrived in Rovinji and were led by Paul Bonhomme, the top player on the overall ranking with 24 points thanks to the victories both in Abu Dhabi (UAE) and Chiba (Japan) races. Matt Hall, who finished in the second place in both the races, scored 18 points. The 2014 champion, Nigel Lamb, followed at third place with eight points and will earn points on Bonhomme to defend the title. The winner of last year’s race and 2014’s vice-champion, Hannes Arch, is in seventh place with five points due to the low performance in the first two races of the season. There are three pilots in the lower part of the rank with zero points. They are Martin Sonka and two rookies, Françoise Le Vot, and Juan Velarde. The Spanish pilot interviewed during the training told us, “For us, the challenge is to learn all the skills that are needs to compete in the master class.”
The aircraft were the same as in last year’s race, improved by the technicians during the winter stop with minor modifications suggested by the pilots. Michael Goulian has made the most particular improvement on his Edge 540 V2 with the introduction of a lighter canopy, a modified wing, and a shorter landing gear to reduce the air resistance in flight. There are still unresolved problems for Péter Besenyei who is still fighting against the stall problems of his Corvus Racer 540 due to the thin wings. As he said us, “The Corvus Racer 540 is a good aerobatic plane, but you cannot pull as you want because the wings stall, and this results in a loss of time in respect to the other competitors.”And during the press conference after the race, Péter Besenyei stated that he would be flying a new Zivko Edge 540 V3 starting from his home race.
The Challenger Cup
To give the young pilots the chance to develop their low-altitude flying skills under racing conditions and thus further enhance the overall safety of the world’s fastest motorsport series in 2014, the Red Bull Air Race staff introduced the Challenger Cup. Eight pilots participate in the Cup, but only five were flying in Rovinj: Francis Barros (Brazil), Cristian Bolton (Chile), Mikael Brageot (France), Peter Podlunsek (Slovenia), and Daniel Ryfa (Sweden).
The winner of the race was Ryfa, at his first-ever win, with a 1:05.103-minute lap. In second place was Brageot who flew the lap two seconds slower. These pilots have been the only two without penalties. Bolton received two penalties for “Incorrect Level Flying” and finished in third place. Slovenian Podlunsek landed in fourth place and received a couple of penalties for hitting a pylon and having “Incorrect Level Flying.”
The Master Class Qualification
In the master-qualifying race, Bonhomme demonstrated his good condition of the moment, winning the session and putting a hand on the third seasonal victory. With the race formula introduced this year, in fact, the position obtained during the qualifying session is very important for the final part of the race. In the first stage of the race, called “Round of 14,” the pilots are divided into seven couples and will be matched one on one; the winner of each match will gain access to the so called “Round of 8.” In this match, the couples are composed and looking at the qualifying time: the first qualified pilot will face the last, the second with the 13th, and so on.
Bonhomme and Hall were challenged in the “Round of 8.” The winner was Matt Hall who reached the “Final 4.” After closing in at third place, Hall reached Bonhomme on the first place on the rank championship with 25 points. Martin Sonka achieved his career-best second place in the race.
The winner of Rovinji Air Race was Hannes Arch. The Austrian pilot gave to his numerous supporters the second straight victory in Croatia. The two-day competition for Arch did not start in the best way due to a scary pylon strike, which could have been catastrophic for him. The fabric of the pylon, in fact, wrapped around the wing, creating a dangerous situation, but his training and the experience allowed him to maintain the control and perform a safety climb-out, leaving the track. Arch was able to remove the fabric from the wing and to land safely at Vrsar Airport.
The incident did not affect the pilot, who arrived at the race in great condition. In “Round of 14” Arch won against Péter Besenyei, while in “Round of 8” he proved better than Nigel Lamb. In the “Final 4,” Hannes Arch consecrated himself as the winner of the Red Bull Air Race in Rovinj, with the best lap in 0:54.012 minutes. The second Red Bull Air Race was in Budapest on July 4 and 5, 2015. The race took place over the Danube River in front of the Parliament building, for sure one of the best scenarios for the fourth stop of the 2015 season.
Rovinj Race Results:
1. Hannes Arch (AUT), 2. Martin Sonka (CZE), 3. Matt Hall (AUS), 4. MichaelGoulian (USA), 5. Nigel Lamb (GBR), 6. Matthias Dolderer (GER), 7. Pete McLeod (CAN), 8. Paul Bonhomme (GBR), 9. Nicolas Ivanoff (FRA), 10. Yoshihide Muroya (JPN), 11. Kirby Chambliss (USA), 12. Peter Besenyei (HUN), 13. Juan Velarde (ESP), 14. Francois Le Vot (FRA)
World Championship Standings:
1. Bonhomme (25 points), 2. Hall (25), 3. Arch (17), 4. Lamb (12), 5. Dolderer (10), 6. Sonka (9), 7. McLeod (9), 8. Goulian (8), 9. Ivanoff (6), 10. Muroya (4), 11. Chambliss (2), 12. Besenyei (2), 13. Velarde (0), 14. Le Vot (0)
