NEW YORK - Nigel Lamb mastered a challenging, turn-filled New York race track on Friday to post the fastest time of the final Red Bull Air Race training session ahead of Saturday's Qualifying. The British ace just beat Nicolas Ivanoff of France in a thrilling session under brilliant blue skies and in front of Manhattan's awe-inspiring skyline.
Lamb took full advantage of his special winglets on the extraordinarily difficult high-G track of Air Gates set up over the Hudson River near the Statue of Liberty and Liberty State Park in New Jersey. Flying at speeds of up to 230 mph, Lamb had a flawless run through the 13-gate obstacle course and stopped the clock at 1:12.03. Lamb’s time was a mere 0.09 seconds ahead of Ivanoff and 0.30 seconds ahead of defending champion Paul Bonhomme in third.
Austria's Hannes Arch, who has won the last three races coming into New York and posted the fastest time in the morning training session, was in fourth place while Spain's Alejandro Maclean was fifth and American Michael Goulian got a solid sixth place ahead of Sunday's first-ever race in New York.
“The airplane is definitely capable of better times than I flew today and I'm fairly disappointed,” Lamb said. “I flew badly, actually, and very nearly hit the center pylon in the chicane on the first pass. It took me a couple of gates to settle down. I was a bit slack, really.”
Ivanoff of France posted a sensational time of 1:12.12 and led the field for most of the afternoon before Lamb just edged past him in the final run of the session. Ivanoff, who has struggled this year, seemed to be inspired by the sight of the Statue of Liberty -- a gift to the United States from France in 1886 -- just to his left as he flew into the high-speed, low-altitude track of inflatable pylons.
“It’s really nice to see the Statue of Liberty for the first time in my life and to fly near it,” said Ivanoff, clearly elated by the experience. “It’s a gift from France, of course. I’ve seen a small replica in France many times. I lived in Paris for 10 years on a street near where the man who designed the Statue of Liberty (Frederic Auguste Bartholdi) lived.”
Flying past the monument and into the race track that is just meters off the surface of the Hudson River created some of the most spectacular images in the eight-year history of the Red Bull Air Race. Many pilots admitted they are a bit in awe of flying past the monuments and in front of the New York skyline. "We're going to have an awesome time," said Goulian from Massachusetts. Goulian's solid run stood in contrast to the penalty-marred effort by another American, Kirby Chambliss. He hit the start-finish gate on his way out of the track and had a total of 8 penalty seconds, which left him down in 11th place.
Britain’s Bonhomme said he was pleased with his run through the pressure-packed New York track even though he picked up a two-second penalty. Without the penalty, Bonhomme would have posted the fastest time. "The New York track is fun to fly, but some guys are a little bit nervous,"he said. "We're on the big stage here in New York. And whether you like it or not, a lot of people are going to be watching.”
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