Abu Dhabi: Canadian Pete McLeod enthralled the crowd with his breathtaking manoeuvres and stunned a strong field by clinching pole position in the season-opening Red Bull Air Race Championship event at the Abu Dhabi Corniche on Friday.
The event was established in 2003 and involves small airplanes negotiating an obstacle course of pylons in eight races worldwide starting in Abu Dhabi and ending in Las Vegas in October.
This is the first time it’s been held since 2010 following a break to focus on safety improvements.
McLeod, the youngest pilot in the sport’s history at 30, was the second competitor to take off and he made the most of the bright sunshine and calm winds to breeze past the challenging low-altitude slalom course, filled with Air Gate obstacles at the capital course, in a trailblazing 57.932 seconds.
British ace and defending champion Paul Bonhomme was 1.97 seconds adrift, while his compatriot Nigel Lamb was a further 3.76 seconds behind in third.
A lot was expected of Austria’s Hannes Arch, but he hit a pylon in his first qualifying run and was more cautious on his second.
The 2008 world champion eventually had to settle for fourth spot. The wind clearly had picked a bit of a pace as the race progressed and, in all, five pilots from the 12 competing in the Master Class ended up hitting the pylon.
“It’s exciting to finish at the top today,” said McLeod. “I felt really good in the track and was really focused. Paul [Bonhomme] was right behind me and there were a bunch of other guys close behind, too. Some of the other guys after me might have had some misfortune with the wind changing or first-race. Qualifying-round jitters.”
Bonhomme, Lamb and Arch have been the dominant forces in the past in the event.
However, McLeod’s emergence was a clear indication that the 2014 season promises to be more competitive than ever before with all 12 pilots on a level playing field with standardised engines and propellers.
The Challenger Cup, the new introduction to provide a perfect platform for aspiring pilots, proved to be more exciting than the Master Class with Frenchman Francois Le Vot winning the title by one-one hundredth of a second from Sweden’s Daniel Ryfa.
Third place was bagged by Spaniard Juan Velarde.
“The spirit remains the same to prepare mentally and physically. For pure technique, aerobatics has nothing in common with the race. I felt I have improved a lot. We have all felt the same thing in the race - it was just like a training flight and I feel we have all accomplished a great achievement,” said Le Vot, who represents the French military aerobatic team.
Saturday’s action starts at 1pm.
