Race Team News- Qualifying, Windsor
Nigel Lamb (1st) finally picked up the elusive single point for the fastest time in Qualifying, after posting a blistering 1:09:64 clean run in Q2, beating his own fastest result from Q1. “I’ve been hunting for it for a while,” said the Team Breitling pilot. “I was pretty confident I’d break 1:10 so it’s good to reach that milestone but to actually win in Qualifying, eventually at last, is a fantastic feeling. I really think it’s a combination of many things. I know it’s a cliché but it’s the whole package. You need the aeroplane to be going really, really well but above all you need good handling. You need the aeroplane to be just the way you like it plus it’s got to be competitive then you can feel confident. You then know what you can and can’t do. You need the handling so you can execute your game plan. Tomorrow’s plan is to win.”
Paul Bonhomme (2nd) took his eye off the ball in Q1 and sliced one of the pylons on the finish gate after aiming for a sensible run. Luckily he had a quiet word with himself ahead of Q2, clearing his mind of the distractions from the earlier incident where Hall clipped the water. “On the first run I was in the air listening to Matt’s drama and especially after yesterday with Hannes, it played on my mind a bit,” said Bonhomme, going on to explain the uncharacteristic pylon hit. “I thought I’d better fly round the track in a disciplined fashion, which I did. I was going towards the finish gate and thinking ‘thank goodness that’s over’ and just drifted into it. But these things happen, hey. It wouldn’t have made any difference because my Q2 time was better than the net Q1 time. Nigel Lamb is a big threat for tomorrow, but we’ve known that all year as we’ve seen him improving. I’m not sure he’ll be able to do a 1:09:64 again and it’ll depend on the conditions. One of the factors with his blistering time was that the wind was changing. I’d noticed it on the water. When I was watching the other guys there was some wind but when Nigel flew it was flat calm.”
Hannes Arch (3rd) blew any chance of improving his time in Q2 after receiving a DQ for dangerous flying. His Q1 time of 1:12:71 included 2 seconds in penalties and was only enough for a 3 rd place result. Undeterred, the Austrian felt his second incomplete run had given an indication of what’s possible tomorrow. “I felt it was fast,” the Team Abu Dhabi pilot said. “All the lines and angles were perfect. I was a little high in the last 270 gate, which I saw and pushed it down. I didn’t feel dangerous but I can see from my tail cam I was below the marker. I can understand the judges are nervous after everything that happened and if you count everything together I can see why they knocked me out. It doesn’t matter to me though as my net time was really fast and my flying smooth. I am confident that I would have beaten Nigel’s time in the second run if they hadn’t called me out.”
Alejandro Maclean (4th) had cause for celebration after a great 1:13 clean run in Q2, which knocked 10 seconds off his earlier time. “I’m happy and proud to finally say we have achieved what we have been working for,” said the Spaniard, who saw positive results in the 270 turn as a result of his dramatic winglets. “The nice thing about this flight for me is that it’s not the result of luck or of going madly through the track but rather the result of going conservative and in a safe way. The times of the two flights are pretty much the same but of course one has penalties, the other doesn’t. We know the plane is performing the same way as Nigel’s and it’s wonderful that he is so high up as a comparison. I’m not saying I’ll go for a 1:09 tomorrow as that may be beyond my personal possibilities, not the plane’s. But now I know the plane can do it.”
Matthias Dolderer (5th) changed tactics today aiming for a safe run after Hall’s incident and the results were positive. “I am consistent in the top half in 5 th position which seems to be the place for me in Windsor,” said Dolderer, who posted a 1:13 clean run in Q2 to move up the table. “I wouldn’t mind if it stays like this but I wouldn’t mind if it would be better. Finally I made a clean run without any penalties. I’m happy after Qualification and I hope I can carry this on for tomorrow’s race. I lost maybe a second between gates 12 and 13. In the last knife-edge I made a really wide turn because I wanted to have a really secure angle to go into the chicane. Today I didn’t try to get a certain time but just a clean run and I think that’s the way to go.”
Pete McLeod (6th) flew two clean runs for the home crowd in Qualifying but had mixed feelings about his performances in the track. “I’m happy with the runs and I think we could have been under a 1:13 on Q2 had I not wasted time away on the last few gates with a line coming into the chicane,” explained McLeod. “I came out with my best time so far in the track here but at the same time I was shaking my head because I probably gave up a second or more on three gates alone. But what do you do? The plane doesn’t have a 1:09 in it and I don’t have that in me either, possibly I’ve got a 1:11. I think that last run could have been close to that. I’ll be checking my engine if we break 1:10!”
Michael Goulian (7th) tried two very different approaches during Qualifying and was able to measure success for each. “I had a terrible week of training but we were 4 th in Q1 so didn’t have anything to lose in Q2,” said the American pilot, who flew a 1:14 in Q1. “Dennis, my tech, was like ‘just go see how fast you can do it’ because in the first run I was smooth, relaxed and looking two gates ahead. So in the second flight I was a man a little bit out of control. You do that and you start to make mistakes. In Q2 I was just reacting to what was in my face.”
Kirby Chambliss (8th) picked up 4 seconds in penalties in Q1 and reduced this to just 2 for his final run but it wasn’t enough to climb the standings. “I thought my second run was really good and I thought I was clean,” said the pilot, who made the podium here last year. “I’m sure the decision was right and we wouldn’t have won the point in any case. A 1:09 will be tough tomorrow but I’ll try.”
Martin Sonka (9th) continued to do well in Windsor and finished with a respectable position for his rookie status after sensible flying in Q1. While a last-minute pylon hit in the second run ruined any chances of improvement the Czech Air Force pilot was happy to be making progress on such a difficult track. “I was a little bit late in the chicane and wide so the angle I took into the gate was wrong,” he said. “I was just waiting to see which gate I was going to hit. It was like Paul did and it was too narrow for me. I hoped I could get through but I didn’t. I tried in the second flight to be really calm but I also tried a different line and the previous one was actually a bit better.”
Peter Besenyei (10th) flew the new Corvus racer conservatively in Qualification and despite flying a clean run in Q1 (1:16), complained of a technical issue that was impacting on his performance in the track. “The plane is nice but we still have a problem with engine heating which we are trying to solve,” said the Hungarian pilot, whose technician was working to improve cooling to the engine ahead of tomorrow’s race. “I still can’t fly with full rpm or lean the engine which affects power. My technician Jimbo is the magic guy and he can do everything.”
Nicolas Ivanoff (11th) had a DQ in the first Qualifying session and although the French pilot made it through the track second time around, he picked up 4 seconds in penalties. “It would have been good to fly in the Wild Card as it’s extra training,” said Ivanoff, who escapes the initial session tomorrow and moves straight into the Top 12 due to the cancelled Wild Card. “I was descending in the chicane and I accept that. I saw the video and I fully agree but I saw some penalties – somebody else was really close to the DQ but didn’t get a penalty. I saw someone turning in the gate. Today we were really lucky. I didn’t want to push a lot and I tried to fly without any mistakes but I got 2 penalties. It’s impossible for me to beat Nigel because he did a really great time. I did a 1:14 without the penalties but I think maybe I can only manage a 1:12 if I’m not pushing so hard.”
Sergey Rakhmanin (12th) had two almost identical runs with 1:19 times, which included the same 4 seconds in penalties. The Russian pilot was too high in gate 2 and flew an incorrect knife-edge in gate 5. “I need to understand why I got the penalties,” said Rakhmanin, who also moves straight into the Top 12 tomorrow. “I think it was the second exit for the double knife-edge. It is a complicated part at the end of the track especially as you have to plan early for the 270-degree turn and the chicane.”
Matt Hall (13th) was the next pilot to be caught out in the Windsor track when his wing clipped the water during Q1 after he suffered a wing stall. The Australian pilot, who will not fly any further rounds in Canada due to his damaged MXS-R, was disappointed to be out of the race at this early stage. “I felt I was having a fairly good run. As I was coming round for my second lap, typically you come slow around that last quarter but I’d planned to go a bit harder,” said the former Air Force pilot, who managed to recover from the scary dip into the Detroit River. “I came through gate 13 with too great an angle to the chicane. I broke one of my own rules and looked into the turn, which means I don’t fly the aircraft naturally but I pulled on it.”
Yoshi Muroya (14th) suffered a DNS due to his race plane being damaged earlier in the week and a suitable replacement unable to make it in time for the final training session yesterday. The Japanese team’s efforts to salvage something in Windsor were unfortunately in vain and Muroya could only watch the action from the ground during Qualifying.
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