First championship point up for grabs as 2010 opens today in Abu Dhabi

Red Bull Air Race
First championship point up for grabs as 2010 opens today in Abu Dhabi

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First championship point up for grabs as 2010 opens today in Abu Dhabi

by Erik Kay, Mar 26, 2010

The first point of the 2010 Red Bull Air Race World Championship is up for grabs today in Abu Dhabi when 15 pilots from 13 countries will be battling to record the fastest time in Qualifying – and collect one championship point.

Defending champion Paul Bonhomme of Britain is the early favourite after posting the fastest time in the fourth and final training session on Thursday on the 5.647-km long track of 15 Air Gates that 20-metres above the turquoise waters of the Arabian Gulf in front of Abu Dhabi’s famous Corniche Road and UAE capital city’s impressive skyline.

Bonhomme earned the rights to start from the 15th and last spot in the both Qualifying sessions, which begin at 3 p.m. and then 4 p.m. respectively. But four other pilots were within a second of the defending champ on Thursday and are expected to be right on his heels in the battle for the one championship point. Nicolas Ivanoff of France (2), Nigel Lamb of Britain (3), 2008 champion Hannes Arch of Austria (4) and 2009 rookie of the year Matt Hall of Australia were all within 0.98 seconds of Bonhomme on Thursday.

The Qualifying times are used to determine the starting order for Saturday’s season opening race, the first of eight in the 2010 calendar. The first 10 automatically qualify for Saturday’s Top 12 competition with the five slowest then battling it out first thing on Saturday for the two remaining Wild Card berths. The fastest eight in the Top 12 round then advance to the Super 8 with the top four from that round battling it out in the Final Four.