Hannes Arch (1st) let rip in the track today getting the very most from his new plane. The Austrian pilot who is known to really fly close to the edge posted two clean runs to take the first championship point of the season in Abu Dhabi. The winning run (1:12:78) put fear in the hearts of most of the race pilots as the Team Abu Dhabi pilot had stumbled in some of the earlier sessions this week. “Before I was nervous and felt the pressure from Paul,” admitted Arch after securing the all-important single point today. “The first flight was really exhausting. Paul is right behind me. We pretty much have the same times and there’s basically no time difference between us. If I make a small mistake, even the tiniest flying mistake then I’m behind him and if he makes a tiny mistake he’s behind me. It’s not down to just the airplane – you can see this year there are five or six guys that are there.”
With an emphasis this year on distancing himself from the psychological stresses of racing, Arch added that he continues to adopt a calmer mindset. “You always have to work hard at that,” he said. “You can’t run away from the pressure. I don’t want to make the wrong tactics because there is pressure there.”
Nigel Lamb (2nd) had plenty to smile about as he flew a pair of clean runs in Qualifying. Fast times on both occasions did much to lift the spirits of Team Breitling. “I kept my nose clean today but maybe I should have taken more of a gamble,” pondered Lamb. “I was a little bit conservative with my line into gate 3 as I’d just seen Nicolas Ivanoff go into it but I took 1.3 seconds off the first run. I felt lumbering and pedestrian in the first run but seeing some of the sector times, I’m now thinking maybe if I’d cut a few more corners then I could’ve had that point.” Lamb said he was planning to look at his technique for flying through the problematic gate ahead of the race tomorrow. “It’s an absolutely crucial gate for two reasons – how you get there and how you leave. You can cut the corner after gate 2 but it’s dodgy to do that as you’re very likely to hit the gate,” he added.
Paul Bonhomme (3rd) had to settle for a surprising third place spot after hitting a pylon in his second run, relying on his earlier penalty-marred 1:14:45 for the final result. “I was trying to save time and went straight for it,” shrugged a laid back Bonhomme once the dust had settled after the pylon disaster. “It’s early days but the really good news is that we are on a par time-wise with Arch. This time last year he got the point with a 2.5 second lead so it’s brilliant.” In the hangar Bonhomme was playing it cool even though the pressure was clearly building. “I’m not disappointed,” he added, offering a pragmatic afterthought: “Even if I’d made it through that gate I’d still have been second. I’d have been frustrated if it had been the difference between getting the one point or not but that’s not the case. There are 8 races this year and 104 points available so it’s only 1% of the points available.”
Matt Hall (4th) stood his ground with an encouraging finish just outside the top 3 with a clean 1:15:00 run. “We’ve been working on the aircraft the whole time but I’ve been pretty happy with my flying,” said Hall, who is running with a spare engine in Abu Dhabi after his primary engine failed during training. “I’ve been happy with our sector times. I’ve been holding back during in the week so today was the first time I ran the engine as hard as I plan to. We stepped it up quite a bit. It’s going to plan but there have been quite a few setbacks this week but it’s going to plan. We think we can get more power by Perth so we’re still working on the engine. We had a primary race engine and a ‘safe’ spare but we think we’ll get the faster one in the plane by Perth.”
Nicolas Ivanoff (5th) said he may have looked calm on the outside but his feelings inside were more reminiscent of a volcano ahead of Qualifying. With a pylon hit in his second run the Frenchman was unable to keep his cool and slipped to 5th place with a 1:15:50. “I saw that Nigel and Matt both had a good run so I tried to go a little bit faster in the second one,” explained Ivanoff, who was suffering with cylinder problems back at the hangar after his flights. “Of course I then touched the pylon so I realised it wasn’t going to be. It’s really hard to say if my net time was good as I ‘took my time’ on the second run. The time without the penalties isn’t really a good indication but we’re pretty much running the engine at full power. It’s going to be an interesting race tomorrow.”
Kirby Chambliss (6th) had ironed out his issues with exceeding the G limit but couldn’t climb higher than the middle of the table. “I think there were a couple of places I can try to pick up some time in the track,” said the American pilot. “We had a penalty in one run and a clean flight on the other – and the net times were almost exactly the same. Going from gate 3 to 4 is what’s killing me at the moment so we’ll try to fix that tomorrow. I’m losing about three-quarters of a second there.”
Michael Goulian (7th) reckoned today’s result was his best ever in Qualifying. “These were probably the two most perfect Qualifying runs I’ve ever done,” said Goulian, who clocked a 1:16:43. “I’m not really a Qualifier but I was today. Can you be happy with 7th? The two runs were almost as good as I can do but both Kirby and I are a little disappointed with where our airplanes are. We probably have about 11 th place airplanes and it’s only because people are making mistakes around us that we can be where we are. We need our new engine for Perth. It’s not so good to be relying on the mistakes of others especially when you’re flying super clean. This year with Brad and Dennis, we’re scheming and planning. I went into this race with a plan and I didn’t try to get more from the airplane than it would give me.”
Yoshi Muroya (8th) showed consistent strength with a respectable finish in Quaifying, securing the Japanese pilot a place in the Top 12. “I was especially pleased with the first run, it was a really good time but one penalty,” said Muroya, who clocked a 1:16:67. “I’m still chasing where I had lots of penalties last year. In the pull up gate my timing is still too early. Tomorrow I need to a little bit later as I’m then worrying about things and hitting the pylon. Tonight I’ll prepare and it’ll be good. It’s great that I have a place for tomorrow.”
Peter Besenyei (9th) was pleased with his 1:18:22 second run but just couldn’t move any higher than the middle of the table. The Hungarian pilot wasn’t letting it ruin his day however and happily entertained a troupe of home fans who visited the airport after Qualifying. Let’s hope the strong fan support might bring him better luck tomorrow.
Matthias Dolderer (10th) left the Race Airport in a somber mood after receiving a DQ in the first Qualifying and posting a slow 1:18 time second time round. “I’m surviving but I’m frustrated,” he said. “Training 1 was running quite well then I don’t know what has happened to make me inconsistent but I hope I can fix it for tomorrow. We have no time to relax and we have to analyse our flights, which takes a few hours. Of course I’ll try to do the best I can tomorrow to sort it out. You just have to get in the race mode, calm but also aggressive. Maybe today I was too relaxed.”
Sergey Rakhmanin (11th) saw his place in the Top 12 slip away after two penalty-ridden runs. The Russian pilot believes he’s found the right line in the track but was concerned about his off the pace times. “We found a solution with the track but the first flight wasn’t great because I hit a pylon but the time was good,” explained Rakhmanin who posted a 1:22:71 with a 6-second penalty for hitting the pylon. “The second run was bad for penalties and time. I can understand penalties; they were more or less fair. I had a problem with gate 3 twice and I accept the penalties. I’m more worried about the times – 4 seconds behind.”
Martin Sonka (12th) celebrated his birthday today with a clean run in the track, posting a 1:22:89 to sit in a comfortable 12 th position. “I’m definitely happy with today’s results,” smiled the Czech rookie. “The main goal was to fly with no penalties and I was happy with the second flight. I don’t want to push too much. I am happy with the track and I wanted to fly smoothly so my approach to gate 3 was slower. It’s how I need to fly this first race and as I get more experience I can go faster. Tomorrow it would be amazing if I get a point but avoiding penalties is the focus.”
Pete McLeod (13th) was confused about being DQ’d in his second run today and said flying in the Wild Card round tomorrow would be a familiar experience. “Yes, it was a disappointing day but I believe the DQ was for dangerous flying but I don’t know exactly what I did,” said an irritated McLeod. “The net time was a little slower this afternoon but the airplane is running smoothly. I just need to get through the track cleanly… apparently I just need to get through the track. The airplane has the capability to get out of the Wild Card round which is a different position to the one we were in last year all the time. It’s really about trying to put down a clean run but there are some other fast airplanes in there too.”
Adilson Kindlemann (14th) kept the crowds entertained with some lively flying in the track but was disqualified in his first run and then picked up several penalties in his second run (1:38:91). The Team Petrobras pilot said there was still improvement in today’s flying. “I’m happy, I think I evolved from yesterday and I think I’m getting better, getting there,” he explained. “I know I crossed the crowd boundary line but I am certain the second flight was better. Flying safely is the priority so I feel I achieved that.”
Alejandro Maclean (15th) was forced to sit out today’s Qualifying due to a technical irregularity. Following a random weigh in of the Spanish team’s MXS-R, it was discovered that the plane was under the 540kg limit. “Yesterday we were just under weight so we decided to be conservative and ballast it so we put an extra 2.5kg on board just to be on the safe side,” explained a calm Maclean, who took the ruling well despite knowing he will have to fly in the Wild Card round if he hopes to secure any points. “Today we were the same amount under weight. Maybe it’s just the volume of the fuel and the heat, we just don’t know. It just caught us out – maybe we were a bit too brave. We’ve put an extra 6kg which will make us heavier than the other pilots but we’ll just have to go for it.”
Comments
Add a comment