It's not over until the last race
SALZBURG, Austria – After flying to his 2nd victory of the season in front of a 2009 record race day crowd of 720,000 in Porto, Paul Bonhomme is now in the driver’s seat of the Red Bull Air Race World Championship with a 4-point lead over defending champion Hannes Arch. But the British ace, who is the only pilot with more than one victory in the most wide-open battle in race history this year, is guarding against over-confidence going into the season finale in Barcelona on 3/4 October with the title at stake.
“It's a good way to go into the final race but as we've seen before it's not over until the last race," said Bonhomme after the thrilling battle over the Douro River in Porto on 13 September that saw a rookie on the podium for the first time ever, Matt Hall of Australia, and upsets galore. Hungary’s Peter Besenyei had a strong 4th place to brighten up an otherwise disappointing season and Spain’s Alejandro Maclean was clearly thriving on his own Iberian Peninsula and got a season-best 7th place in Porto, hitting stride with several solid runs during the weekend just in time for his home race on the Mediterranean coast next month.
Bonhomme with modified version of last year's engine
"Our engine change helped enormously in Porto and flying three consistent runs on race day helped as well because it was obvious that some other pilots flying suffered under pressure,” added Bonhomme. "I'm really sorry that it took me so long to decide to change the engine. We’re using (a modified version of) last year’s race engine so that will give you an idea of how underpowered this year’s engine was. Who knows where the points would be if we’d changed it earlier. But I can’t complain about 3 second places and 2 wins at this stage of the year."
Bonhomme, eager to win his elusive first title after seeing the crown slip away at the very end of the season in 2007 and 2008, combined the newfound speed with skill, strategy and a bit of good fortune to come out on top in Porto. Despite heavy fog in Porto that cancelled all training sessions on Thursday and Friday, Bonhomme put in one brilliant run after another when the sun finally came out on Saturday for one round of training and Qualifying. His thumping victory in the race made amends for last year’s disqualification in Qualifying for exceeding the 12-G limit, an error that cost him the championship lead and the title.
Porto is a special place for Bonhomme
“I think I’ve been through every emotion possible in Porto – from last year’s DQ to this year’s win," he said. "So it’s a special place for me."
For the first time this year, Bonhomme also snatched the 1 point for Qualifying fastest and was then able to fend off the challenge from Arch and Australia’s Matt Hall in the final, dominating a race for the first time in 2009. Lady luck was also kind to Bonhomme in Porto – American Kirby Chambliss had a very fast plane but was forced to miss one of the two Qualifying runs due to a time-consuming over-g technical inspection. Chambliss nevertheless beat everyone but Bonhomme in Qualifying and also set a track record time on Race Day in the Top 12 battle; but despite his awe-inspiring speed, the 2006 champion was forced to retire after that with a fuel leak.
“I'm super disappointed,” said Chambliss, who is oddly back in 6th place overall due to a maddeningly erratic season. The American has two 3rd places (Windsor and Budapest) but also a 9th in Abu Dhabi, a 12th in San Diego and now an 8th in Porto. "I was feeling comfortable in the track, the plane's running good, I was setting good times and then this!"
Hannes Arch: "The pressure is on Paul"
Arch, who went to Porto with the aim of overtaking Bonhomme, botched Qualifying by hitting a pylon and ended up in 9th – only just avoiding the humiliation of being forced into the Wild Card competition for the slowest four. The Austrian bounced back strongly on Sunday in fine fashion, giving Bonhomme a run for his money through the Top 12, Super 8s and Final 4.
“I think I just needed that one bad day after two years of always being in front to learn from it,” said Arch, who has won only one race this year (Abu Dhabi) despite having the fastest result in many of the training sessions but was hurt by a bird strike in San Diego and costly penalties in Windsor as well as Budapest. “I’ll be looking to put Bonhomme under pressure in Spain. The Barcelona track is better suited to my plane. I was the world champion already. I think the pressure is on Paul.”
Rookie Matt Hall on the podium in Porto
Porto will also go down in the annals as the race where a rookie, Hall, made it to the podium – a testament to the hard work and high level of training and preparation being devoted to the four newcomers this year. “This is a moment that’s going to stay with me for the rest of my life,” said Hall, who moved up to 3 rd overall with 3 rd place in Porto. “What a beautiful city! What a special place Porto is for me.”
Japan’s Yoshi Muroya also had a breakthrough race in Porto, taking a remarkable 4th place in Qualifying before falling to 10th in the race. The first rookie from Asia still picked up a career-best 2 championship points to raise his total to 3. German rookie Matthias Dolderer confirmed his ascent with 6 points for 6th place in Porto that lifted him to 11th overall on 14 points. Pete McLeod of Canada, the youngest pilot in the field, finished last but took solace in the fact that his time of 1:15.65, which included a 2-second penalty, was only 4 seconds away from a podium finish. McLeod, who got his 1 championship point for 11th place on a challenging Windsor track, is looking forward to the similarly challenging turn-filled Barcelona track that should be better suited to his plane. And so is Bonhomme: “The turning of Barcelona will be a mix of both advantage and disadvantage to us,” he said. “We’re not the lightest airplane, which will be a disadvantage but our new engine will help.”
Add a comment
Comments