Hannes Arch struggled to find the right lines at the Red Bull Air Race World Championship’s second leg in Chiba, Japan on Sunday and was eliminated in a penalty-marred opening round by his old nemesis Paul Bonhomme of Britain. Hannes, who had posted the fastest time in training on Saturday and came to the first-ever race in Japan hoping for his 10th career victory, was disappointed by 11th place and the opening round defeat on the fast out-and-back racecourse set up in front of Makuhari Beach.
Racing at speeds of 370 km/h in front of a sold-out crowd of 60,000 spectators on the high-speed, low-altitude track, Arch tried to pull out the stops in his difficult first-round match-up against Bonhomme, who won the season opener in Abu Dhabi and was third in Qualifying on Saturday. Hannes, the 2008 world champion, had an uncharacteristic off-day in Qualifying and was 12th on Saturday after picking up a two-second penalty for incorrect level flying at the tricky gate 3. That forced him into the knock-out round match-up against Bonhomme. Hannes made the same mistake at the same gate on Sunday, a costly error that he could ill-afford to make against two-time champion from Britain.
Hannes, who finished fourth in the season opener in Abu Dhabi, was hoping to find a way to get back on the podium again in Chiba, Japan – the first time the race was staged in Eastern Asia. He had won the second stop of the 2014 season in Rovinj, Croatia and the second stop in 2010 in Perth, Australia but saw his unusual “winning streak” in the second race of the last two seasons end abruptly in Japan.
Sunday’s race was the first ever in Japan and the 60th Red Bull Air Race since the sport was launched in 2003. It was warmly embraced by in Chiba, the birthplace of civil aviation in Japan. A record-breaking 120,000 tickets were sold for the two days of racing action and there was heavy media coverage all week.
The next Red Bull Air Race will be in Rovinj, Croatia on May 30/31.
