Hannes now has an up-and-down season behind him. After problems in the first two races of the season in Abu Dhabi (UAE) and Chiba (JAP), he brought out his “A-game” in Rovinj (CRO) and Budapest (HUN), temporarily moving up to second place in the World Championship. Unfortunately, this was followed by a run of bad luck that included an engine problem in Ascot (GBR), a wind gust and early elimination at his home race in Spielberg, as well as another loss in Fort Worth (USA). In order to defend his 3^rd place in the overall World Championship rankings, Arch only needed to stay in front of Czech Martin Sonka, which he managed to do. Time penalty-free flights, a 5^th-place finish at the end of what had been such a difficult season for him, and ultimately World Championship bronze certainly provided Hannes with some degree of consolation: “It’s indescribable. No one could have expected what happened today. We won as a team. This was my toughest World Championship to-date.”

After a season which had not gone well, especially the races in the second half of the season, he really was very satisfied with third place. “Despite everything, it is a very good ranking, and shows that my team and I worked well together. Naturally, winning the Red Bull Air Race World Championship would have been the big achievement, but I’ve learned my lessons and I’ll move forward with what I have learned”, the Styrian concluded, already excited to head into the 2016 season perfectly prepared and optimistic about his prospects.

Brit Paul Bonhomme was able to write history, the first pilot ever to secure a third World Championship title, after previous wins in 2009 and 2010, in this, the world’s fastest motor sports series. Winner of four races this season in total, all the 51-year-old needed was a second place (48.968) in the Las Vegas’ Final 4 behind the man chasing him, Matt Hall. The Australian’s 48.604 was enough to complete his second victory of the season.

World Championships Rankings:

1^st Bonhomme (76 points), 2^nd Hall (71), 3^rd Arch (34), 4^th Sonka (29), 5^th

Dolderer (26), 6^th Muroya (23), 7^th Lamb (20), 8^th McLeod (19), 9^th Ivanoff (15),

10^th Goulian (13), 11^th Chambliss (9), 12^th Besenyei (8), 13^th Velarde (0), 14^th Le

Vot (0)

Bonhomme, who still has the overall lead with 34 points, was a close second, just 0.207 of a second behind Arch's winning time of 59.350 seconds in the high-speed, low-altitude race on the breathtaking track set up on the Danube River in front of the Hungarian parliament building. Martin Sonka of the Czech Republic was third in the race where the world’s 14 best pilots were flying at speeds of up to 370 km/h just meters above the surface of Danube River in front of thousands of spectators. It was the sixth time the Red Bull Air Race was staged in Budapest, one of the most spectacular locations where the pilots enter the track by flying beneath the city’s iconic Chain Bridge.

Hannes Arch, who struggled in the training sessions and was only third in Qualifying on Saturday, was unstoppable through the first two elimination rounds, comfortably advancing through the Round of 14 and the Round of 8. But he was pushed to the limits in the riveting Final Four by Bonhomme, Sonka and Pete McLeod of Canada, who ended up fourth. Even as temperatures soared far above 30 degrees, Arch calmly held on to deliver his best performance of the week.

“Things couldn’t be going better right now,” said a beaming Arch, who also won got his first career win here in Budapest in 2008 that put him on course to win the world championship that year. “The key is to put it all together at the right time. It doesn’t help if I do it in Qualifying or training. I had the confidence that I could put it all together at the right time.”

The Red Bull Air Race World Championship moves to its next stop in Ascot (UK) on August 15-16.

Results Budapest: 1. Hannes Arch (AUT), 2. Paul Bonhomme (GBR), 3. Martin Sonka (CZE), 4. Pete McLeod (CAN), 5. Matt Hall (AUS), 6. Peter Besenyei (HUN), 7. Matthias Dolderer (GER), 8. Nigel Lamb (GBR), 9. Yoshihide Muroya (JPN), 10. Kirby Chambliss (USA), 11. Michael Goulian (USA), 12. Francois Le Vot (FRA), 13. Juan Velarde (ESP), 14. Nicolas Ivanoff (FRA).

World Championship standings: 1. Bonhomme 34 points, 2. Arch 29, 3. Hall 29, 4. Sonka 16, 5. McLeod 14, 6. Lamb 13, 7. Dolderer 13, 8. Goulian 8, 9. Ivanoff 6, 10. Besenyei, 11. Muroya 4, 12. Chambliss 2, 13. Velarde, 14. Le Vot

Hannes prevailed in an intense battle on Sunday against the world’s best pilots and changing winds off the Adriatic Sea to claim the victory in the Red Bull Air Race in Rovinj, Croatia. Martin Sonka of the Czech Republic got a career-best second place in the race, where pilots hit speeds of 370 km/h, while Matt Hall of Australia got his third straight podium with third place on the difficult, windswept racecourse set up just off the shorelines of Rovinj. 

“It’s special,” said Hannes, clearly moved by the support from the Austrian supporters and his family as well as his recovery from a dismal 11th place two weeks ago in Chiba, Japan. “We started slowly here this week in training but I realized my lines were good and I tried to focus on my game and not anyone else. I’m really happy to win in Croatia in front of so many fans.

Britain’s Paul Bonhomme, who won Qualifying but finished in eighth and Australia’s Matt Hall, who was third in Rovinj, are on top of the championship with 25 points each while Hannes jumped from seventh place overall to third on 17 points after getting 12 for the win in Croatia. Hannes also sent a large contingent of Austrian fans who traveled to Rovinj into a frenzy with his 10th career victory in the world’s fastest motorsport series. 

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 12^th 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 60^th 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.