was pleased with his consistency in the EuroSpeedway Lausitz race track, a turn-filled circuit he hopes will play to the strengths of the wingtips on his MXS-R. Lamb, who is in third place in the championship overall, has an outside shot at winning the title even though he has not yet won a single race in his career. That could all change on Sunday. A victory on Sunday (12 points) combined with a win on Saturday in Qualifying (1) point would put him on 60 -- which would be enough for the championship if Paul Bonhomme finishes sixth or lower and ends up with 59 points. “It’s nice to know that I’ve got a lot of things right here on Thursday,” Lamb said. “I had a good flight and I’m really happy to be quite consistent in the track. I really enjoyed it. It’s a wonderful track.”
Paul Bonhomme (2nd) was puzzled that Lamb had beaten him by 0.66 seconds in the afternoon after he had posted the fastest time in the morning session. But the British ace, who only needs to finish on the podium in Germany to secure his second world championship, suspects that Lamb may have been going all out in the afternoon session with his engine settings on full power: “I think Lamb may be running with more power than me. I’m not running at full power yet. It’s a good track. It’s easy to fly but difficult to fly quickly. There’s a couple of 180-degree turns and a 270, so there’s a lot of tactics to be had in there so it should be fun.”
Nicolas Ivanoff (3rd) was pleased with his strong showing but wary of putting too much faith in being able to stay in third place in the race if the other pilots, as usual, start flying faster in Qualifying and the race. “It was really nice to see other pilots flying at this venue. It’s nice to see the track so close. It’s a great venue. The track is challenging but fun. Flying between gates 3, 4 and 5 is interesting because it feels like you’re flying a sort of escargo, like a snail. There are so many different ways to fly that. I think you can save a lot of time there with the right line.” Ivanoff, who has been sixth three times this year, would like to reach the Final Four but expects the others to be flying faster. “I’ve done well in training before but then it seemed like everyone else turned on turbo engines and got faster. I am almost at full power so I don’t think I can improve my time that much.”
Hannes Arch (4th) got off to a modest start but the man with the best chance of catching Bonhomme in the championship was nevertheless full of confidence that his team will have the right package and the right lines by Qualifying. Arch could win the championship if he wins Qualifying and the race -- and Bonhomme finishes fourth or lower. “I got a little closer to Paul and Nigel in the afternoon so we’ll see how it goes,” Arch said. “I was able to motivate myself a little bit better for the whole thing. That’s the key: to motivate myself.”
Matthias Dolderer (5th) is looking forward to competing in his home event, which has certainly inspired the German racer with confidence and a sense of great possibility. "I feel the first and second training sessions went really well and I’m quite happy and satisfied with 2nd and 5th placings, but the other guys haven’t pulled everything out yet so it’s still early days. It’s an honour to fly in my home country of course and the arena will be an amazing atmosphere here for the weekend."
Matt Hall (6th) has adopted a steady approach to his race preparation for this finale weekend after missing the New York event. "Today has been all about regaining confidence for myself and trying to fly penalty free. I got some reasonable times, but I’m not going flat out. Until I get some serious training time, I’m not going to push it. We’ve done quite a bit to the aircraft to improve it’s handling but until I get some more training I’m giving myself much more margin than I normally would."
Kirby Chambliss (7th) was pleased with his first two sessions and confident he could fly faster. “It was fine. I got to find a couple of seconds in there. I think I know where I can carve a little bit out. All in all, I'm happy to be here. It's a fun track. But we're still 20 horsepower down with the engine."
Michael Goulian (8th) is aiming for a spot in the Final Four on Sunday and pleased with his first training runs despite penalty setbacks: “I’m kind of comfortable on the track. My first time would have been a good net time of a 1:14.09. That’s not enough to win but it’s right up there. We just need to get into the Final Four. We’ve been knocking on the door all year but not able to get in. We just need to figure that out. It’s all gate four to gate five. If I can figure that out, we’ll be all right. The race has gotten so tight you can’t make a penalty. If you do, you lose. I know where I’m losing time but it’s hard to fix it.”
Peter Besenyei (9th) says a faster plane would always be the first item on the Hungarian’s wish list, but he remains happy and positive about racing away from the water. "I’m just focused on the pylon, flying from pylon to pylon, so it doesn’t matter if it’s water or land underneath. The track is nice, it’s quite tight which is good and it has a racing feeling. The atmosphere is like an arena and having the race and airport and track together is perfect because we can watch and study each other.“
Yoshihide Muroya (10th) is mindful of his three-month absence from competition and is concentrating on coming back amid this new race environment. "We’re just getting used to the track. With the arena, the road track and the grandstands all out there, I’m just focused in the gate and the turn radius. It’s been months since I last flew so I’m also getting used to having land instead of water below me.“
Alejandro Maclean (11th) is buzzing to be at the EuroSpeedway but has had to deal with being unwell. "Unfortunately I have had the flu for the past few days and I’ve been trying to shake it off. It doesn’t help because you get tired quickly and in a tight track like this you need to be fast and agile but hopefully I will catch up in a few days.“
Pete McLeod (12th) was hurt by four penalty seconds and dropped him from what would have been 6th place. “This was the first time in the track since New York so it was cool to be back in the track. I like the track. It’s interesting to be racing over land. I’m trying to find the right lines. I had a pretty good net time on one of my runs but I’ve got to get those penalties cleaned up.” McLeod added: “I’m not fifth by a whole lot of points. I’d like to stay where I’m at. I don’t think I’ll be moving up on Kirby. He’s pretty far ahead of me. It’s important to keep my programme on focusing on my race. It’s worked well all year.”
Sergey Rakhmanin (13th) was focused on avoiding penalties. "I can say it’s feels different here over the land instead of water and I still have some questions in my mind about the track, but my main focus is to fly without any penalties."
Martin Sonka (14th) is hoping a lot of Czech supporters would come from his nearby home country to cheer him on: "For me it’s only my first season and my first race without the water but it’s really quite similar whether it’s water or land. To see the height it’s very much the same. This will be great for the public and a nice set-up to see everything; the airport and the race together.“
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