Abu Dhabi: World Champion Paul Bonhomme may not be taking to the skies to defend his title in the Red Bull Air Race Championship this season - but his voice will be still heard there.

The Briton, having hung up his boots, is starting his second innings as a commentator - and was very much looking forward to the new challenge.

“I love racing here but to get into the track in an aeroplane and be competitive takes a huge amount of work. I haven’t had to do that and I had a very relaxing winter. I’m looking forward to watching the race. This is the first race I will be watching,” said Bonhomme, who has won here at the capital course four times, including a hat-trick.

Many are of the view that the sport will not be the same in Bonhomme’s absence, but he begs to differ.

“Well, people said that at the end of the last race in Las Vegas. ‘You cannot go they said. Some even said we want to be here and want to beat you so you can’t go. But 10 years of racing was good and I wanted to go out on a high. I think I made the right call and now I can give my expert view for the television.”

The 51-year-old was of the view that this season’s race is wide open in his absence.

“I don’t know what to expect honestly, as after seeing the free practice it looks like it is a bit up and down. So, it will be anybody’s race and difficult to predict which pilot will come up trumps. The winner will be the one who can keep his cool,” said Bonhomme, whose first success in Abu Dhabi came in 2008.

The new rule change has put a lot of emphasis on the timing and accuracy - especially in the qualifiers - but Bonhomme feels the final race is still “brutal”.

“The new rule change is more or less the same as last year. It’s brutal as a competitor. The head-to-head is absolutely brutal but for the spectators it is fantastic. However, to get knocked out by a quick guy when you have to still put a fast time is brutal. But you got to fly well. The qualifying rule change is fine but the actual race is still brutal.”

Having mastered the capital course for three years in a row, Bonhomme clearly knows a thing or two about tackling the wind and desert course. “Gate three on this course is challenging. You arrive at the gate three very fast, so you can go over G and you have to watch the crowd-line. If you can do that quickly then you will be set-up well. Then the next tricky gates are four, five and six where you are doing 200 knots with two seconds between the gates. You got to turn a lot so it is quick,” said Bonhomme, who also felt that changing wind patterns, being at the coast, also make the race challenging.

Bonhomme’s tip for his pilots before signing off was: “Try and be as smooth as possible and be precise.”