Abu Dhabi: Japan’s Yoshi Muroya was just seated metres away from Czech Republic’s Martin Sonka with Red Bull Air Race General Manager Erich Wolf splitting the two.
The occasion — the season opening race press conference at an Al Bateen Airport hangar where 14 teams are fine tuning their final preparations for the Master Class.
There was hardly an eye contact or any pleasantries exchanged. No war of words, but both chose to be guarded in sharing their views ahead of the contest.
Clearly the duo was keen on doing all the talking in the skies and settling their scores in an aerial dogfight starting on Friday.
Muroya created history last season by becoming Asia’s first aerobatic pilot to win the Red Bull Air Race World Championship.
His flight to the title wasn’t easy though as it went right down to the last race of the season in Indianapolis.
Muroya was in the runners-up spot in the overall standings leading up to the final event but he came up with his best when it mattered the most.
By overtaking the leader Sonka by just four points for title, Muroya wrote a new chapter in the history of the sport.
“It’s a new season and it will be challenging in every race that we compete in. Every single year and race, the pilots get faster so it will not be easy,” said Muroya, who won four out of the eight races in 2017.
“We want to go faster than last year. It’s important to keep focused, stick to our plans and I think it will be a good and exciting season,” added Muroya, who felt it is imperative for man and machine to click well as a unit to repeat the success.
“It was a combination of me as a pilot, the aircraft and the team which led to our success. Maybe we were slightly better than the rest. Hopefully, we can do that again,” the 45-year-old said.
There are a few rule changes that could make things more testing for the reigning champion.
In this year’s Master Class, going over 10G for over 0.6 seconds will result in a two-second penalty, where it previously resulted in an automatic “DNF” (Did Not Finish) for the run. Now the pilot will be allowed to race on — unless they reach 12G, where a DNF is mandatory.
“There’s no pressure on me just because I’m the world champion. But, with the new rules, it will be challenging in every race and the championship is getting tighter and tighter. Everybody is asking me how to defend a championship but it’s 2018 and 2017 is history. I cannot think about that now. There are a new set of teams and new modifications to look into,” said Muroya, who went on to reveal that his World Champion tag has allowed him to build a huge fan base back home.
He is working hard to attract more children to air competitions at the Fukushima Sky Park in Fukushima city, where he’s currently based.
“Yes, people have started recognising me for sure. Parents do come and talk to me on how they can get their kids into the sport. Hopefully, my success will be of help in drawing more people to take up the sport. It will be nice to make Japan proud again with some good performance this season.”
