RIO DE JANEIRO - Austria's Hannes Arch dominated Friday's two training sessions ahead of the Red Bull Air Race World Championship at the weekend, beating championship leader Paul Bonhomme of Britain into second place twice under bright blue Brazilian skies. Britain's Nigel Lamb was third in both training runs ahead of Sunday's second race ever in Brazil, where a record-breaking crowd of one million viewers is expected.
Arch, riding high after winning the last race in Perth, posted a course-record time of 1:19.20 in the Friday afternoon session off Flamengo Beach, which was just 0.04 seconds faster than Bonhomme. Before the lunch break, Arch had been 0.17 seconds faster through the 5,634-metre track with its 15 Air Gates with a time of 1:20.00. Lamb, who is second overall in the championship behind Bonhomme, stopped the clock in 1:20.74. American Kirby Chambliss took a promising fourth place in the fourth and final training session ahead of Qualifying at noon on Saturday, where one championship point is up for stake.
“I’m quite happy,” said Arch, whose Team Abu Dhabi is eight points behind Bonhomme in the overall championship and four behind Lamb. “We didn’t try to attack. That’s how I think I get the most out of myself – just stay calm and fly smooth, nice lines. That was the aim for today and it worked. I was looking at the times and I had a big smile. It should be an exciting race for the Qualifying point tomorrow."
Bonhomme, who won the first race in Rio in 2007 and took third in Perth, had topped the time sheets on Thursday when Arch was a mere fifth. The British ace, who saw his three-race winning streak snapped by Arch in Perth, did not sound overly concerned about the Austrian beating him by 0.04 seconds. Bonhomme, who leads the championship with 22 points from two races, said he has already spotted the sections of the track where Arch was quicker after looking at video replays in his hangar.
"Four-hundredths of a second behind Hannes so that should be fun trying to make that up tomorrow,” Bonhomme said. “But I think I know where he's got it on me. It's the same place on both laps. It's not without its problems, though, because I could make that bit quicker but then it might make the next sector slower. But I don't have to make up much, do I?"
Americans Michael Goulian and Chambliss had reason for optimism going into Saturday’s Qualifying. Goulian was fourth in the morning training session before Chambliss grabbed that same spot in the afternoon. Hungary’s Peter Besenyei and Nicolas Ivanoff of France also did well in the final session, taking fifth and sixth, respectively.
The weekend’s race in Rio is the second consecutive race this year in the Southern Hemisphere, the first time in Red Bull Air Race history that there have been back-to-back races south of the equator and a reflection of the growing popularity of the high-speed, low altitude sport around the world. Brazilian rookie Adilson Kindlemann will only be a spectator after his plane was wrecked in an accident in Perth. But Goulian will be carrying Brazil’s national colours into the race after signing a sponsorship deal with Brazil energy giant Petrobras. Goulian has already been dubbed “Gouliano” by the local media.
Follow all the action from Rio on the Red Bull Air Race Live Blog.
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