BARCELONA, Spain – Flying to the first podium of his Red Bull Air Race World Championship career in front of 720,000 spectators in Porto was the easy part for Australia’s Matt Hall, relatively speaking. But the rookie from Down Under then quickly discovered the challenges of sudden fame.
Hall, who could get 3rd overall this year with a good result in the season finale in Barcelona this weekend or fall as low as 9th if he has a horrible weekend, was still celebrating his record-breaking 3rd place finish in Porto with well-wishers and some of his pilot rivals late into the night on Sunday evening after the race with a refreshing beverage or two when phone calls from Australia started pouring in. Because of the time difference, it was already Monday morning back home and it seemed like everyone wanted to talk to the first rookie in race history to get on the podium – including the Australian media.
“I did a lot of interviews starting at 5 a.m. and going until 11 p.m.,” said Hall, who nevertheless seemed to be wearing a permanent smile on his face after getting the first podium in Porto, a result that also lifted him from 5th place in the championship to 3rd in front of Mike Mangold of the United States (4th) and Nicolas Ivanoff of France (5th). “It was a long day. The reaction back home in Australia was fantastic. I had a lot of well wishes and a very happy family. The media really grabbed hold of this one and are even more excited about the prospect of an Australian race on the calendar next year.”
“The podium is addictive – I want it again”
Hall is in 3rd place in the championship with 33 points. The pressure will be on him in Barcelona even though he has no chance of catching Paul Bonhomme or Hannes Arch. Hall could end up being overtaken by Mangold (4th with 31 points), Ivanoff (5th with 28 points) or American Kirby Chambliss (6th with 27 points). Even Nigel Lamb (7th with 22 points), Michael Goulian (8th with 21 points) and Peter Besenyei (9th with 20 points) could in theory overtake Hall if he has a bad weekend. This year shows how competitive this season has been with only 13 points separating 3rd from 9th place. Bonhomme is in 1st place with 55 points and Arch is in 2nd with 51.
“It felt great to finally make it on the podium,” Hall added. “My game plan was to not try and win the race but to see how well I could go by flying a smooth, error free run all day and letting the pressure get to those who may have had a slightly faster or more powerful aircraft. When I made it to the Final Four, I kept the same plan. It would have been easy to try very hard for the podium and make an error. So when I finished the track, I knew it had been a clean run with no risk of penalties and an okay time. When they read out the results, all I wanted to hear was that I was not last and the rest did not matter. The podium is addictive. I think I want it again.”
Hall said he was relieved the pressure to get on the podium for the first time was finally over. But now he is putting pressure on himself to hold onto 3rd place in the championship. “Initially I felt the pressure come off. People had been saying after the first race that I could get a podium this year. I was starting to doubt it as we ran out of races and other people were improving their engines. So straight after the race I thought ‘I did it, now I can relax and just enjoy the next race’. But now there is actually more pressure, not necessarily for a podium in the race but for a podium in the championship in Barcelona. But hey, that’s why we race.”
Hall, who turned 38 on 16 September three days after his Porto triumph, was a decorated RAAF fighter pilot and top gun instructor before joining the Red Bull Air Race World Championship this season. Even though he is one of the most amiable pilots in the championship, Hall brought a no-nonsense military style of thinking to the race.
A change of strategy
He got off to a magnificent start with a stunning 5th place in both the season opener in Abu Dhabi and San Diego – in past years rookies often went through the whole year without getting a single championship point and yet Hall had collected 14 after two races. But he got a bit ahead of himself in the 3rd round in Windsor, where he fell to 7th place after hitting two pylons on a challenging course where he pushed a bit too hard.
He candidly admitted that in Windsor “I was flying like a wally.” He changed his strategy in Budapest. He stopped pressing for results and instead focused more on flying more relaxed with clean lines and without time penalties. In the next race in Budapest the strategy seemed to be working well and he got 3rd in Qualifying but he said he ended up relaxing a bit too much in his final run in the race and got 7th. He had to fine-tune that strategy a bit more for Porto, where it all came together.
Aiming high
“I was starting to think there was a magic wall for me at 5th place in the race,” Hall said. “Especially after I made 3rd again in Qualifying in Porto I was concerned I was going to do the same again as Budapest and either make a mistake or just fly poorly and not see through to the result. But now I have, I know I can do it and I know I can do it again in the future. It was definitely a confidence builder to get on the podium.”
Hall, who flies an MXS-R while Bonhomme and Arch ahead of him fly in Edge 540s, believes in the MXS-R. “I think it’s an advantage and I think it’s a great plane,” he said, even though the other pilots with MXS-Rs have had disappointing seasons. “In the end, I think the most important thing is clean flying and if the plane suits the pilot, it’s easier to achieve. The MXS suits me.”
Hall now has his eye on the next goals: winning a race and then one day winning the championship. He realises he will need not only the right plane and great flying but a bit of luck too. He had good fortune in Porto when Chambliss, who had a very fast plane and flew the fastest time of the day in an earlier round, was forced to retire due to mechanical problems.
“I think a race victory requires a lot of things to add up,” Hall said. “First, unless the top guys all DQ themselves, it will rely on having one of the fastest planes – air frame and engine, and a constant flying style. I think I can get both of these sometime next year.”
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