Cancelled Wild Card guarantees place for Ivanoff and Rakhmanin in Windsor race

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Cancelled Wild Card guarantees place for Ivanoff and Rakhmanin in Windsor race

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Cancelled Wild Card guarantees place for Ivanoff and Rakhmanin in Windsor race

by Kirsten Corrigan, Jun 6, 2010

WINDSOR, Ontario – There are two pilots thanking their lucky stars as we gear up for today’s race along the Detroit River in Canada. Frenchman Nicolas Ivanoff and Sergey Rakhmanin from Russia move automatically into the Top 12 round after the Wild Card was scrapped due to a lack of competitors to justify the knock-out session which normally sees three of fifteen pilots eliminated.

With Brazilian rookie Adilson Kindlemann already out for the Windsor round, two further teams suffered setbacks in Canada reducing the already slimmed down field to twelve. With only just enough pilots to fill all the spots in the Top 12, the decision was taken to cancel the Wild Card. All pilots will therefore fly in the Top 12 round, scheduled to start at 1400 local time.

Yesterday’s Q1 saw Australian podium hopeful Matt Hall grounded after close shave in the track resulted in some damage to the wing and wheel spat. Thankfully the determined former Top Gun pilot was able to recover safely from the scare and land his MXS-R at the Race Airport without any further ado. Earlier in the week, Yoshi Muroya from Japan had to pack his suitcase to travel to Oklahoma, US, to pick up a replacement race plane ahead of training. The pilot’s canopy flew off in mid-air during a test flight, causing damage to the tail of his Edge 540. Unable to make it back in time to fly in the final training session on Friday, Muroya was not eligible to fly in yesterday’s Qualifying.

Both Rakhmanin and Ivanoff lose the opportunity to fly an additional run in the track today, which may have an impact on both teams’ results. Ivanoff, always a surprise package, has really struggled with the second chicane all week, posting his worst Qualifying result so far this season in the tricky Canadian track. He was 11^th yesterday with a DQ in Q1 before picking up 4 seconds in penalties in Q2, finishing with a 1:14 run.

Frustration in the Russian hangar also suggested that Rakhmanin was unable to work out the best line coming into and leaving the 270-degree turn to make the chicane. He flew two almost identical 1:19 runs and was left scratching his head at the end of Qualifying after getting it wrong in gates 2 and 5.