Difficult conditions at first knockout round. After the qualification had to be cancelled on Saturday, the 14 best pilots in the world had to master the challenging racetrack on Sunday. Due to the high water level of Danube River, the track had to be erected upstream the world-famous Chain Bridge instead of downstream as originally planned. Fired up by lots of waterproof fans, Styrian pilot Hannes Arch beat Francois LeVot (FRA) at the “Round of 14” after the French pilot had exceeded the G-force limit. Nigel Lamb (GBR), Matt Hall, and Nicolas Ivanoff (FRA) also qualified for the next round. After a short bad-weather break, Matthias Dolderer, Kirby Chambliss (USA), as well as “fastest loser” and winner of the Chiba stage, Yoshihide Muroya (JPN), joined them in the “Round of 8”.

 Bad weather inhibited finals. Despite the incalculable weather, the exciting competition could be continued with the “Round of 8”. In an impressive run, Hannes Arch defeated 2014 world champion, Nigel Lamb. In addition, Matt Hall, Kirby Chambliss, and Matthias Dolderer qualified for the final round. As a massive storm was approaching, the organizers had to cancel the finals though and the results of the Round of 8 counted for the final ranking. It was a German-Austrian déjà vu as Dolderer had already won the Spielberg stage ahead of Arch. Matt Hall and Kirby Chambliss took ranks 3 and 4. “I’m really thankful to be on the podium again. Budapest is something like a home race for me. I love to fly over Danube River and between these beautiful buildings. I really pushed the envelope. My team and me gave everything. We’re very proud to have such a great result again. But it was a tough race, the conditions were really difficult,” the Austrian said after the race.

Results Red Bull Air Race Budapest 2016

1.     Matthias Dolderer (GER)               00:58.653

2.     Hannes Arch (AUT)                      00:58.943

3.     Matt Hall (AUS)                           00:59.236

4.     Kirby Chambliss                          00:59.456

Red Bull Air Race 2016 Overall Ranking (after 4 of 8 races): 
1. Matthias Dolderer (GER, 41.25 points), 2. Hannes Arch (AUT, 26), 3. Kirby Chambliss (USA, 25.25), 4. Yoshihide Muroya (JPN, 22.50), 5. Nicolas Ivanoff (FRA, 22). 6. Nigel Lamb (GBR, 19.75), 7. Matt Hall (AUS, 18.75), 8. Martin Sonka (CZE, 14), 9. Pete McLeod (CAN, 12.50), 10. Francois LeVot (FRA, 10), 11. Juan Velarde (ESP, 9.25), 12. Michael Goulian (USA, 6.75), 13. Peter Podlunsek (SLO, 3), 14. Petr Kopfstein (CZE, 2)

Home favorite Yoshihide Muroya had the best handle on the wind as well as a course that was on the open sea. He celebrated a sensational home victory and the first of his career! On race-Sunday alone, over 50,000 Japanese fans were able to celebrate the triumph of their local hero in this, the ultimate motorsports series in aviation!

Hannes Arch was “too fast”. For Hannes Arch, the “Round of 8” was virtually over before it even began. Pushing the limits, the Austrian flew a tad too fast into the course and was docked a one-second penalty for passing through the start gate at too high a speed.

“A little mistake with big consequences. Generally speaking, we had very little track- and training time due to qualifying having to be called off on Saturday. Which meant, we weren’t able to do everything exactly as we’d originally planned. The preparation time was simply too limited. You could also see that in the fact that all of the pilots with make-up training runs today were very fast. In the “Round of 8”, I could have flown with more self-confidence, though my coolness on the track was ok. Our plane is very fast, the team works extraordinarily well together, and the World Championship is more open and exciting than ever before. Everything is possible. I am totally motivated and already looking forward to Budapest”, says Hannes Arch.

Capturing second place at his home race in Spielberg, Hannes Arch is right back on track after the disappointing season-opener in Abu Dhabi. In Chiba / Japan (4-5 June), last year’s World Championship third-place finisher is ready to raise the ante. One key to success might well be a touch of Nepalese serenity the 48-year-old will bring to Japan after his recent trip to the former kingdom. Red Bull TV and Servus TV will be broadcasting the race live.

Hannes, your Facebook account says that this time you prepared for Chiba with a view of Mount Everest: How long were you in Nepal and what were you up to there?

(laughs) That’s one way to look at it, I guess. I was down there for a week. On the one hand to prepare for a project with KTM, a kind of location check by helicopter. And on the other, just to get in some quality hiking and trekking. As you can imagine, there’s nowhere better for that than the region at the base of Everest, and it was really great fun!

Do you need to create mental and physical distance from the Red Bull Air Race between events, or are timeouts like this shortly before a race weekend more of a disadvantage?

I really need that distance. Let’s face it, no one’s out there just sitting in their race plane between events. In fact, the aircraft are generally sent straight to the next location. For me, the mountains are a perfect counterbalance.

How do you manage to shift gears between relaxation mode and competition mode?

That’s rarely a problem, especially in Japan, since the entire venue is wired into race mode. As for the rest, you are just excited at the prospect of flying in the next race and totally focused on getting yourself and the race plane prepared for the start of the event. My passion for racing, plus having a great team to work with, make the adjustment extremely simple. Honestly, it’s not something I give a second thought to.

What lessons will you take from your home event in Spielberg for the upcoming races?

The most important lesson from Spielberg, and also from Abu Dhabi, is that we are absolutely right on track!  The team and our plane are purring along, and we’re as calm a group as we’ve ever been, allowing us to work on fine-tuning the things that will take us to even greater success.

What are you looking forward to especially at the race in Japan?

To the challenge of getting a good result despite the difficult conditions. That means the weather, which is always tricky in Chiba, as well as the special rules in place for this course, which includes being forced to fly the vertical turning maneuver high, rather than trying to keep it flat. Right now, it’s hard to understand why, but we’ll try to make the best of it. On that point especially, I hope the extra calmness I’ve brought back with me from Nepal  gives me an added advantage (laughs).

14 of the world’s best race pilots definitely had no easy task at this, the second stop of the season in the Red Bull Air Race World Championship 2016, in Spielberg. Despite the difficult conditions, the athletes raced with impressive precision and at speeds as high as 370 km/h through the air gates, didn’t allow the wind or the snowflakes to get them out of their zone, and served up a competition that was exciting to watch.
Petr Kopfstein, the Czech Master Class Pilot on Team Spielberg, was the first opponent of spectator-favorite, Hannes Arch. The Austrian won through with a solid, error-free run, earning appreciative applause from the grandstands. After a sparkling victory in qualifying, Spaniard Juan Velarde, who had already brought strong performances in this World Championship, took too high a risk on this particular race Sunday and was eliminated in the “Round of 14” for pushing too many G’s.
In the “Round of 8” in his home race, Hannes Arch met US pilot Kirby Chambliss. With a fantastic run, the Styrian definitely warmed the hearts of his fans at the Red Bull Ring. Clocking 57.254 seconds, the local hero put down a really hot time, one that Kirby Chambliss was not able to catch. Which then brought Hannes Arch, along with Pete McLeod (CAN), Matthias Dolderer (GER) and Nigel Lamb (GBR), into the finals – a top quartet for the grand showdown in Styria!
Canadian Pete McLeod opened the battle for trophies in this year’s Austrian appearance of the ultimate motor sports series in aviation. With a spirited flight, Hannes Arch temporarily took the lead, but then had to hold his breath. Matthias Dolderer has shown on countless occasions, why he should always be counted one of the favorites in every race. In Spielberg 2016, he followed on the heels of Australian Matt Hall, who had been able to celebrate the first win in his career in Styria in 2015. In similar fashion, the German also managed to secure his own first gold trophy and took over leadership in the World Championship. Hannes Arch congratulated his opponent: “I am super satisfied, even with second place. Of course, I always want to come in first, but I am pleased everything turned out so well. The team did great work and the fans were fantastic. And the fact that Matthias was able to pull out such an amazing run, incredible! He took lots of risks and he deserved to win.”

Spielberg Race 2016, Finale Results
:

1.     Matthias Dolderer (GER)             00:56.996

2.     Hannes Arch (AUT)                    00:57.336

3.     Nigel Lamb (GBR)                      00:57.349

4.     Pete McLeod (CAN)                   00:57.598

World Championship Overall Standings 2016 (after 2 of 8 races): 
1. Matthias Dolderer (GER, 27 points), 2. Nicolas Ivanoff (FRA, 19), 3. Hannes Arch (AUT, 12), 4. Pete McLeod (CAN, 11), 5. Kirby Chambliss (USA, 11), 6. Nigel Lamb (GBR, 9), 7. Francois LeVot (FRA, 9), 8. Matt Hall (AUS, 8), 9. Michael Goulian (USA, 6), 10. Peter Podlunsek (SLO, 3), 11. Yoshihide Muroya (JPN, 3), 12. Martin Sonka (CZE, 2), 13. Juan Velarde (ESP, 1), 14. Petr Kopfstein (CZE, 0);

Red Bull Air Race on ServusTV. On Monday, 25 April, Hannes Arch and German Red Bull Air Race Pilot Matthias Dolderer will both be making live guest appearances at 9:15 p.m. in the show “Sport und Talk aus dem Hangar-7”, at which time they will review all of the highlights of the Spielberg race.

In the Red Bull Air Race World Championships, the goal is to go head-to-head against 14 of the world’s best race pilots to complete a course of 25-meter high air gates in highly maneuverable, lightweight planes as quickly as possible. If you happen to brush one of the inflatable pylons, you incur penalty seconds. The pylons tear immediately on contact. Of course, Hannes Arch wouldn’t be a Red Bull Race Champion if he didn’t constantly search for new challenges. Gazing on the Tauern Wind Park in his Styrian homeland, the native of Trofaiach had often played with the idea of attempting a slalom flight in Oberzeiring: “If, as a Red Bull Air Race pilot, you have such a windfarm at your front door and fly past it, it’s no wonder that you also want to fly through it at some point!” Wind turbines don’t bend, and that’s precisely why the idea of flying in between such massive “gates” had such an irresistible appeal for the Austrian pilot. He assures us:  “Respect is of ultimate importance, and without my experience as a Red Bull Air Race pilot I would never have given flying between them a second thought.” The Tauern Wind Park lies at 1900 meters above sea level and, with its 14 wind turbines, is the highest windfarm in Austria, also one of the highest in the world.

With official permission from the authorities in consultation with Wind Park management, and after intensive preparations, just a few days ago Hannes Arch finally powered his way between the 60 meters-high wind turbines in the Niedere Tauern mountains, realizing the wish he had been nurturing for so long. After the flight at over 300 km/h and stresses on his body of as much as 6 G, the Styrian was absolutely beaming as one of the few, if not the first person ever to fly a slalom route through a wind park: “I don’t know if a pilot has ever done anything comparable. Regardless, I am super happy that I was privileged to have such an experience”, and the Austrian continues: “One of the greatest challenges in comparison to the Red Bull Air Race is having to adapt far more to the natural conditions. In the middle of the mountains, you are rising and falling. You can’t fly as close to the obstacles, which increases the radius, and, at around 300 km/h, things can get a bit tight. Every second, you have to be perfectly clear in your mind that you have wind turbines in front of you and need to know precisely what you are going to do next. Though it has nothing to do with the Red Bull Air Race, it’s every bit as much fun, with the added benefit that it’s not about the time you clock. Things will get really serious again at the next race in Spielberg!”

Hannes Arch loves his home region, the mountains and flying – all of which came together in the premiere of the “Wind Park Rally” in Oberzeiring. For the passionate pilot, this flight was a perfect change of pace in order to clear his mind for the next important race. The anticipation of his fans and the atmosphere at the Red Bull Ring are a real motivator for Hannes Arch, of course. Plus, the local hero still has an account to settle at the Spielberg. He wants to celebrate the home victory he has sought for so long, having missed out on the 2014 World Championship title by a whisker, and touching the first pylon in last year’s race, which immediately put him out of contention. Awaiting fans in Spielberg on 23/24 April will be an enthralling motorsports competition along with a first-class program of side events. Tickets and complete information are available at www.redbullairrace.com/de_AT/event/spielberg-2016.