Dubai: The Red Bull Air Race will make a much anticipated touch down in St Petersburg, Russia tomorrow.
The competition, which features the world's best pilots speeding through a race track in the sky, will be held in the evening during the city's famous 'White Nights' season when the sky remains light throughout the night.
The event will be based on the Arrow of Vasilievsky Island and the race itself will take place over the Neva River against the spectacular backdrop of the Winter Palace, home of Russia's renowned museum, The Hermitage.
This will be the fourth stop of the World Series which consists of nine international races.
The pilots will fly at speeds reaching more than 400kph, negotiating 19m high obstacles known as 'Air Gates', and dealing with acceleration forces of 10G or more, as they battle it out in a bid to be crowned world champion. They will face one of the most challenging race tracks of the season in St Petersburg.
Flights over water space always require extra skill as there is the added difficulty of determining exact altitude over water. An extremely compact course has been designed with more gates than usual which will make for an exciting and fast race.
With ample viewing around the entire track, spectators will really feel part of the action. American, Kirby Chambliss is currently leading the World Series, having won the first race of the season in Abu Dhabi and last month's contest in Berlin.
World Series 2006 Overall Standings:
1 Kirby Chambliss USA 16 points
2 Peter Besenyei HUN 15
3 Mike Mangold USA 14
4 Klaus Schrodt GER 6
5 Nicolas Ivanoff FRA 4
6 Alejandro Maclean ESP 3
6 Michael Goulian USA 3
8 Paul Bonhomme GBR 1
8 Nigel Lamb GBR 1
10 Steve Jones GBR 0
10 Frank Versteegh NED 0
