Paul Bonhomme in front of Hannes Arch
SALZBURG, Austria – Britain’s Paul Bonhomme said he was “getting fed up with second place” and insisted he is “not a second-place kind of guy” after falling just short of the Red Bull Air Race World Championship with that thankless runner-up position in both 2007 and 2008.
But the British ace has learned to love second place in races this year going into the penultimate battle of 2009 in Porto and Gaia on 12/13 September– using three second-place finishes coupled with just one first in the first four races so far to catapault himself in front of Hannes Arch of Austria, the defending champion who has been less consistent with one win, a second, a third and a fourth place.
Bonhomme knocked Arch off the top of the championship by taking second place once again in Budapest on 20 August in front of a crowd of 650,000 spectators behind American Michael Goulian while Arch fell to second overall – a position the pilots often refer to as “first loser” – after falling to fourth in the Hungarian capital.
Bonhomme: I'm very pleased to be in second place
“I’m very, very pleased to be in second place,” Bonhomme said with a smile after taking the lead away from Arch with the second place in Budapest even though Arch had dominated training and looked like a sure bet to extend his championship over Bonhomme. But Arch got saddled with a costly 2-second penalty on his final run that dropped him off the podium for the first time in over a year. It was an astonishing turn of events as Bonhomme had struggled through training and Qualifying in Budapest, and could have just as easily ended up off falling behind. “I don’t think it was me who put the pressure on Hannes,” said Bonhomme, who was nipped by Arch in 2008 because he was not as consistent as the Austrian. “It was all these other guys who are flying so fast. Now I’ve got to carry on and try to win some more races.”
Arch had looked unbeatable early in the season with his emphatic victory in Abu Dhabi and he picked up two extra points for posting the fastest Qualifying times in the first two races. But Arch has not been back on top of the podium since, hampered by a bird strike in San Diego along with painful penalties in Windsor and Budapest. “To say I’m disappointed by what should have been an easy win is probably the understatement of the year,” said Arch. “This makes me really determined to set the score straight in Porto.”
Michael Goulian on top of the podium for the first time
Goulian, who had struggled with 14th place in the first two races before making changes to his engine, was elated to land on top of the podium for the first time in his four-year career. “We had great hopes at the start of the year but we realised we went down the wrong road. We made an airplane that was fast through the air but didn’t focus on the horsepower. I felt like I was flying in a rowboat. After we changed the engine, it allowed me to just let the airplane fly and I haven’t had to push it so hard. It’s been great.”
Matthias Dolderer took advantage of newfound engine power
German rookie Matthias Dolderer also took advantage of newfound engine power to grab a career-best fifth place in Budapest, collecting seven championship points to raise his total to eight and move well in front of rival rookies Yoshi Muroya of Japan and Pete McLeod of Canada. Dolderer’s fifth place also surprised high-flying rookie Matt Hall of Australia, who finished two pegs behind the German in seventh.
“It’s a super feeling,” Dolderer said when asked how it felt to beat Hall. “The new motor makes a huge difference. As soon as you’ve got a good engine you’ve got a chance to mix it up near the top.”
Four different winners in four races
The championship has never been more competitive with four different winners in four races so far. There has also been a record total of 11 different pilots in the 15-man field that have made it into the Top 5 at least once – Bonhomme, Arch, France’s Nicolas Ivanoff, Americans Goulian, Kirby Chambliss, and Mike Mangold as well as Britain’s Nigel Lamb, Hungary’s Peter Besenyei, Russia’s Sergey Rakhmanin along with rookies Hall and Dolderer.
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