SALZBURG, Austria - The 2010 Red Bull Air Race world championship was the most exciting in the eight-year history of the sport with a spirited battle that went to the final round and stops in some of the world’s most spectacular locations -- including a first-ever race in New York City.
The six-race season will long be remembered as one of the most remarkable motor sport championships ever even as the Red Bull Air Race goes into hibernation for 2011 after 50 races on five continents over the last eight years. There were also, unfortunately, two accidents in 2010 -- the first in the sport’s history -- but fortunately no one was seriously injured.
Paul Bonhomme of Britain became the first pilot to successfully defend the Red Bull Air Race championship, taking the honors in the final race at the EuroSpeedway in Lausitz, Germany by getting second place behind Hannes Arch and finishing the season with 64 championship points. The Austrian, who had won the championship in 2008, finished a close second overall in 2010 with 60 points despite winning four of the six races in 2010 with victories in Perth, Rio de Janeiro, Windsor, and Germany. Britain’s Nigel Lamb had a career-best season, taking third place overall with 55 points, after he managed to reach the Final Four in all six races and took second three times.
Bonhomme, who had finished a heartbreaking second in 2007 and 2008, won only the season opener in Abu Dhabi and the penultimate round in New York -- a brilliant performance under pressure in front of the spectacular backdrop of Lower Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty. But, more importantly, Bonhome got on the podium in all six races -- and extended his record-breaking podium run to 13 straight races going back to 2008. Bonhomme joins American ace Mike Mangold (2005 and 2007) as the only double champion. Bonhomme also has more career wins (13) than anyone. American Kirby Chambliss, who won the 2006 championship, finished fourth overall in 2010 .
Worked Beautifully Together
“It’s very special,” Bonhomme said. “What a relief! It had been mine to lose and I was pleased not to have slipped up. I’m very pleased about the whole year. We’re a motor racing sport and we worked beautifully together. I’ll look forward to whatever happens next with the air race and hope that Team Bonhomme are running around the world, having a great race, enjoying the scenery, meeting the fans and locals and enjoying the food, beer and wine -- but above all winning.”
Arch had won the 2008 championship even though he had only won two races that year. By contrast Bonhomme had won four races in 2008 but ended up second overall. Arch’s 2010 hopes were dashed by a 11th place in Abu Dhabi -- just like Bonhomme had wasted his chances in 2008 with a 10th place in Porto. In 2008 Bonhomme had felt he had shown he had been the better pilot with the four victories despite coming up short in the championship while in 2010 Arch had a similar view that he had demonstrated he was the fastest with his four wins.
“Maybe we didn’t win the championship, but we won four races, we set lots of track records and had lots of fastest times in the training sessions,” Arch said. “That made us happy. And we hope to win the title in the future. It’s a good feeling to know we posted most of the track records this year. So we know we’re fast. This season was the best season for me. In 2008 Paul made a big mistake and handed over the title to me. This year we definitely had our best season with four wins. We had the fastest airplane. I’m most happy about this season. “
Tough Competition In Chasing Pack
Behind the leaders, it was a year of upsets and upheaval throughout the field. As a reflection of how competitive it was, there were only eight points separating fifth place (Canada’s Pete McLeod) and 10th place (Hungary’s Peter Besenyei). McLeod, a rookie who finished last in 2009, jumped all the way to fifth place in 2010 with 33 points. McLeod’s Edge 540 might not have been the fastest plane in the field, but the Canadian was a master of consistency with three fifth places. Nicolas Ivanoff was sixth also with 33 points, a disappointing season for the Frenchman who had taken fifth in 2009.
It was ostensibly also a disappointing season for Matt Hall, who was seventh overall on 31 points after getting third in his rookie season. But when Hall was able to fly, the Australian proved he was one of the best pilots in the world. He was second in Perth and third in the season finale in Germany. But he was stopped by a technical failure in Abu Dhabi, rainy weather that washed out the race in Rio and then missed two races following his splash on the surface of the Detroit River just before the race in Windsor, Canada.
Germany’s Matthias Dolderer got a season-best fifth in Windsor and ended up with 26 points but was not able to get the most out of his new Edge 540 V3 in the final two races and ended up a disappointing eighth, just ahead of American Michael Goulian, who had 24 points and was not able to come close to matching the magic of 2009 when he got his first career victory at Budapest.
Hungary’s Peter Besenyei got off to a splendid start with third in Abu Dhabi, mastering a challenging course in difficult conditions. But he could do no better than eighth the rest of the season and finished with 21 points even though his Corvus Racer set heads turning at the final three stops.
Czech pilot Martin Sonka was pleased about winning two points in his rookie season -- one each for 11th place in the last two rounds. Brazil’s Adilson Kindlemann only took part in the first race in Abu Dhabi. Kindlemann missed the rest of the season after his MXS-R plane crashed into the Swan River in Perth after suffering an aerodynamic wing stall. The Brazilian was not hurt and was quickly helped out of his ruined plane, which had flipped into the water, by divers in the first and only rescue operation in the 50-race history of the sport.
The Red Bull Air Race announced before the final round in Germany that it would take a one-year break in 2011 for the future success and development of the sport.
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