Paul Bonhomme (1st) was pleased with the first two training sessions of the 2010 season, confident that the modifications made over the winter would pay off in the season opener. The defending champion from Britain picked up right where he left off in 2009 and said he would be going all out to win Friday’s Qualifying and the one championship point that comes with it. He said he had a slight problem with fuel pressure but would be able to sort that out before Thursday’s two training sessions. Bonhomme said he struggled a bit in the hotter conditions in the afternoon session and said he had a wing stall, where the wing briefly lost lift, in one tight turn. “It wasn’t anything that dramatic but it shows you get used to the cooler air in the morning and then the hotter air in the afternoon is very difficult to fly in.” Bonhomme was full of praise for his technician Wade Hammond’s off-season efforts to get the plane’s weight down to the minimum limit of 540kg. “We’re within 600 grams of the minimum race weight,” he said. “It’s all going well.”
Nicolas Ivanoff (2nd) made extensive modifications to his plane in the off-season and was relieved that they seemed to be working out. The Frenchman made major changes to the exhaust system and cowling to reduce drag as well as reduce engine heating. “It’s a huge relief,” he said. “We did so much work over the winter. It’s nice to see it’s working out.” Ivanoff said he did not have as much time to test the new engine as he would have liked – less than five hours when 10 or more would have been better. “But it’s good that I’m in the top 3 today. The plane feels good. I like the shape of the plane and the feeling is very good.”
Hannes Arch (3rd) had topped the time sheets in the morning session, just beating his arch rival Bonhomme by 0.20 seconds, with the fastest time of the day (1:09.95). But the Team Abu Dhabi ace stumbled in the afternoon session and was penalised for exceeding the 12G limit. He still managed to post a smooth run in the afternoon but that was only good enough for third place. “The first training was good. But when I tried to go for it I got an over-G. It’s better to make a mistake now than on race day. Power-wise, we’ve got a strong engine.” Arch, who is sponsored by the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority, said he was happy to be racing in front of his “home town” crowd. “I like the place,” he said. “It’s a positive feeling for me to be here. But it’s also stressful. It’s the first race of the season for everyone and there are expectations. I try not to worry about that too much and just try to stay calm. After a cold and nasty winter in Europe it’s nice to be here where it’s so sunny and warm.”
Pete McLeod (4th) rose to the challenge in today’s training sessions with a spectacular finish in the second session with a clean 1:13 run. “We’ve got a brand new engine with about 30 hours on it so it’s coming into its power band right now,” said McLeod, pleased with his career best placing. “It seems that our work over the winter is paying off.” After technical problems yesterday, McLeod said he was happy to be in the air although felt they were “playing catch up” to the other pilots who all flew yesterday. “Today to have that result is good,” he added. “It seems that everything is running pretty good now.”
Matthias Dolderer (5th) showed consistency in both training runs with 1:14 times and no penalties in either flight. With some clear physical changes to the Edge 540’s cowling and a new engine in place, the German pilot has invested heavily for 2010. Although Dolderer is scheduled to receive the new generation Edge V3 this season, he isn’t wasting a moment trying to close the gap on the top contenders. “It’s already serious commitment for 3 or 4 races but if you don’t do it then there is no chance,” said Dolderer of the work on the current plane. “As well as the improvements to engine cooling, we also brought the last 10 inches of the exhaust up a few degrees to create less drag.”
Matt Hall (6th) said he was focused on a few sections of the track in the first day of training and overall was pleased with his plane’s performance even though he believes he should be getting more power out of the engine. “We’ve still got a bit more power to get out of the engine,” the Australian ace said. “I think I can go a second or two faster than what I’m flying now. We do have quite a few issues with the aircraft still, with the power supply and the fuel system. We’re working pretty hard just to keep it in the air at the moment.” Hall, who is flying a new MXS-R, is also carrying an extra 10kg ballast under his seat due to a new rule requiring all pilots meet a minimum weight requirement of 82kg. “The plane feels similar overall. It is a little quicker.”
Nigel Lamb (7th) couldn’t conceal his disappointment with his 1:15 times in training. “Today is the first official training day and to be 5 seconds off the pace, that doesn’t bode well,” said a frustrated Lamb back at the Team Breitling hangar. “I posted a similar time in the second session and didn’t close the gap so I feel pretty despondent. I thought I’d flown pretty well.” With radical winglets added to the MXS-R for 2010 and a new Lycon engine, Lamb is fully focused on a successful season but we’ll have to see if he can move up from the middle of the field in tomorrow’s additional training sessions.
Kirby Chambliss (8th) struggled to find the right G-level, getting hit with an over-G penalty in the morning (12.4G) but then taking the gate too cautiously in the afternoon at just 10G. “It went fairly well all in all,” the American said. “We’re still trying to figure this track out. We were over-G in the morning but then I lightened up so much I only pulled a 10.3. So I’ve got to find somewhere in there around an 11G or so.” Chambliss is looking forward to his new engine in the second race in Australia but still believes he has a chance to win here. “We stand a good chance of winning,” he said. “I think we can make up some time. We’ve made some small mods to the airframe. I’m a little bit concerned because we’re still running last year’s engine while everyone else has put a lot of effort into their planes. I’m not surprised that they’re all running up at the front right now. But I think we can make up some time.”
Michael Goulian (9th) was pleased with half of his morning session and half of his afternoon session – and confident he can put together at least one good run on Thursday in training. “We’re just trying to figure out the track,” the US pilot said. “We found that half of each run was the correct line. Tomorrow we’ll try to mould the best of both together.” Goulian said he felt the judging was harsh on occasions. “I’ve got a few issues with the judging. They’re obviously being sensitive, maybe a little too strict. If you ask me it’s a little bit over board.” But Goulian is clearly optimistic going into the new season after scoring his first career victory last year in Budapest. “I’m happy with the plane. My flying seems to be okay. The track is figured out. I just have to put the pieces together.”
Alejandro Maclean (10th) was positive after his flights in today’s two training sessions and posted a 1:18:02 in the final run. “There are definitely options for us. I don’t think we’ll be able to compete against certain Edge 540s that are well ahead of what we can achieve but I definitely think we can fight for fourth or third place in some cases,” explained the Spanish pilot, who is sponsored by Abu Dhabi news resource ‘The National’ for the first race of the season. “I hope I can give them back what they have given me,” said Maclean about working with the UAE media partner. “I’m really happy to have a local sponsor here for this race.”
Yoshi Muroya (11th) had a clean second run and knocked off a couple of seconds to finish the day with a 1:19:18 time. “The engine is new so we can’t run at full power yet,” said Muroya. “There’s maybe 3 hours on the engine and we need to run it in. We’re going to run full power hopefully in training 4.” With a reworked fuselage and lower profile canopy Muroya’s Edge 540 was showing signs of improvement and with the new engine there could be good things to come if the Japanese pilot can stay clean in the track. “Aerodynamically it is going fast and it is smoother but everybody is flying fast today,” he added.
Peter Besenyei (12th) is biding his time with his current MXS-R as he waits to bring the new Corvus Racer into the championship. With an unmodified set-up, the Hungarian wasn’t too disappointed with his 1:20 time in the first day of training. “We’ve been focused on the new plane, hoping we could start the season with it. There’s been a delay so it is coming but we don’t know when,” said Besenyei. “It’s a brand new plane and the signs are good. Our MXS-R is almost 20kg heavier than the minimum so we are definitely excited about getting the Corvus later in the season.”
Martin Sonka (13th) is taking his debut race in his stride and is feeling comfortable in the Edge 540. “The plane is fantastic,” said Czech military ace Sonka, who has only made around 15 flights in total in the race plane. “With each flight it feels better and better and I’m happy it’s going like this – I hope it will continue. It’s a bit heavier than the minimum race weight so we need to reduce that. The main goals are to prepare the aeroplane as much as possible, to fly safely of course and as I get more and more experience I will become more competitive.” Sonka had his first pylon hit in today’s training but his enthusiasm remained. “I’m really enjoying this,” he smiled as he prepared to leave the hangar. “It was my dream to be a race pilot and I’m living the dream now.”
Sergey Rakhmanin (14th) made the decision to hold off installing a new engine which is here in Abu Dhabi in favour of waiting until the next round in Perth. “It’s stored 100m from our hangar but we don’t want to change the engine here. We want to test it properly so we’re going to arrive early in Perth to do it properly,” said Rakhmanin. “We hope it will bring better performance.” The Russian pilot says working out better engine cooling must come before the new engine is installed and accepted his 1:23:72 time saying that there was no point risking damaging a new engine at this stage with a last minute replacement.
Adilson Kindlemann (15th) joked that the Abu Dhabi track was “too tight” and his MXS-R “too fast” after his last place finish in today’s training. After a penalty-ridden first run, where the playful Brazilian rookie picked up 20 points, he was able to improve second time round reducing the damage to just 8 penalty seconds. Kindlemann posted a time of 1:32:97 but remained upbeat despite the slow start. “It’s definitely a different environment to the Qualification Camp,” said the Team Petrobras pilot. “There are lots of new things to contend with. I want to use this first season to learn step by step and it’s important I use this time to get experience and fly safe.”
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