Abu Dhabi: Clear blue skies, serene turquoise waters below, a pristine beachfront filled with fans and testing gusty winds await the pilots in the season-opening Red Bull Air Race that gets underway in Abu Dhabi on Friday.
World champion Nigel Lamb and last year’s UAE winner Paul Bonhomme of Great Britain have their tasks cut out as, apart from tackling the strong field, they have a fast course to deal with this season. The Red Bull Air Race Committee has modified the circuit by removing the vertical turn between gates three and four.
“It’s too early to say how we’re doing, but so far, so good,” said Bonhomme, who topped the time sheets in Thursday’s practice session when clocking 56.585 seconds.
“The race plane is going really well, the track is fairly straight-forward, so we should be in it. But we know things can change, we’re not counting our chickens yet. We have done an awful lot with the plane and it’s flying beautifully.”
Lamb was not very pleased with his showing in training, but sent out a strong warning that it will be a different story in Friday’s qualifiers, which begin at 4pm.
“I’m not flying too well at the moment and don’t feel fantastic about it, but it’s only training. Qualifying and race day will be another story,” said the Briton, who was a disappointing 10th, 3.091s off pace set by Bonhomme.
Australia’s Matt Hall impressed in the practice sessions as he was 0.835s behind Bonhomme.
The 2008 World Champion, Hannes Arch of Austria, and two-time winner here Peter Besenyei are others to watch out for.
Arch, who was third in practice, also wasn’t happy with his times, but was hoping to put up a strong performance in qualifying.
“Things are going well. I’m a bit slower than I was in the morning. Paul and Matt are quick. I’m making small mistakes, but I hope they’re gone by qualifying,” said Arch.
“It seems easy, but you can lose speed quickly and it becomes hard to pick it up again. As the track isn’t super stressful, it’s good to start here.”
Hungarian Besenyei, who won here in 2005 and 2007, added: “I still have to study the course to try and shave off some tenths of seconds. We need to work on the race plane more.”
United States’ Kirby Chambliss, who only got hold of his plane two weeks ago, revealed he was battling against time and trying to be at his best before qualifying.
“We couldn’t get a lot of the modifications we wanted done as two weeks was just not enough. So we are a little bit behind there but let’s hope to go out there and clock better,” the 2006 Abu Dhabi winner said.
“I will be going out and will fly like a crazy man to try and set the best time. I really want to win and will push as hard as I can.”
Frenchman Niclas Ivanoff, Japan’s Yoshi Muroya and United States’ Michael Goulian also had podium finishes last season and will be threats here. Also keep a close watch on newcomers Francois Le Vot of France and Juan Velarde of Spain. The duo, promoted from the Challenger Class, will be keen to make a mark amongst the big guns.
