Nigel Lamb (1st) was continuing to build upon his success with a flawless performance in today’s training sessions. The British pilot, who has added dramatic winglets to his Team Breitling MXS-R, took pole position as he edged in front of both Arch and Bonhomme ahead of tomorrow’s Qualifying.
“Sure it was definitely a good day at the office,” grinned Lamb, who says his plane is handling great, giving him extra confidence with his race lines. “But you need to remember that it’s only training and some people are still trying out different things, like I was. They might be cutting their angles so it’s not necessarily a true reflection of what will happen tomorrow. I’m hoping to stay top but people might still be taking a gamble.”
Already analysing the training runs from today and looking for ways to further improve, Lamb added: “I’ll be making some changes tomorrow. I think I got a pretty reasonable line but like Abu Dhabi, the key will be to get through with no penalties and that’s a lot easier said than done. It’s a very challenging track,” he said.
Paul Bonhomme (2nd) posted two clean runs in today’s training but failed to take the top spot in either. Settling for a 1:28:93 in the latter session, the defending world champion knew he wasn’t on form. “The times were average actually,” he commented. “I’m a little bit off the pace at the moment but I think I know why and the fixes are not technically challenging. There are a couple of areas where I can improve my times quite a lot without risking anything.” With a cautious approach to engine power during training, Bonhomme admitted he was holding out for the later stages in race week to really let rip in the track. “I’ve not yet used full power as I’m trying to not wear the engine out,” he said. “I can’t see any point in doing that during a training session.”
With Arch slipping further down the table in today’s later training session, Bonhomme wasn’t taking his eye off the ball. “You can get an indication of what people can do – Hannes has some really good net times,” he said. “He’ll be going all-out to try and get a result here but he’ll be disappointed with the penalties because you really want to put down a clean run just to prove you can. With penalties you never really know just what the real time would have been.”
Pete McLeod (3rd) was cool-headed despite blowing many competitors away with an astounding result in today’s training. “It was goodbut still a penalty,” said McLeod after posting a 1:30:01 in the later session, moving him up to third position. “On that last pull-up gate I think I rolled a little too early, which I really didn’t need to do. That does save a little time but I guess I could have been a bit more patient there at the end.” With a podium in his sights, the Canadian pilot remained focused on tomorrow’s challenge. “The big thing is I’d like to have a decent Qualifying,” he said. “I don’t think I’m going to take the point on Qualifying day by any means, but what we found last race is that it didn’t do us any favours being last and then being first to fly in the rounds going through. It doesn’t help flying first every time in the Top 12 or Super 8. This shows me I can put down a fast time and I didn’t need to take a penalty. I was pushing it and didn’t leave a lot on the track so there is a risk of penalties. But the big thing is Quali and it was a mess in Abu Dhabi for me, hopefully we can turn that around here.”
Kirby Chambliss (4th) was pleased with a top four finish in the final training session but remained in the dark about why his times hadn’t improved. “Yeah, I did try some new lines in the track,” said Chambliss, who flew a 1:32:12 including a 1-second penalty for insufficient smoke. “It didn’t really work though; it’s still about the same time. I’m not sure exactly why and I can’t wait to get our new engine. We’re still waiting on the paperwork but the engine should be on its way to Rio but we said it was on its way here and to Abu Dhabi! We had some shower coming in yesterday and 27kt blowing at the gate but y’know it’s all fine.”
Matthias Dolderer (5th) was in an upbeat mood after the final training session in Perth, saying he had a plan to improve upon his 1:33:25 training time. “It’s alright and I feel I am flying smooth enough,” said the German pilot now in his second season, who picked up 2 penalty seconds for flying too high in the track. “Better too high than too low. This training run was much better than the first one this morning. I think I can save some time in the track somewhere; I’m almost sure I know where. I hope it works out. I don’t push it.”
Alejandro Maclean (6th) was getting to grips with his recently added winglets and admitted the race track probably wasn’t the best place to be testing them. “There are big differences but so far, so good,” he shrugged. “I’ll stick with them for the time being. You have to remember that the first time I tried flying with them was literally three days ago. Nigel Lamb has been flying with them throughout the winter and training with them. There are some differences in the way the plane handles and you have to adjust that. The track is not the perfect place to experiment so you have to be careful and just go little by little, which is what I’m doing.” The Spaniard posted a mid-field time of 1:33:81 but did pick up a 2-second penalty. “I definitely think the winglets are helping and working out,” Maclean added. “I might just need more time to adjust my flying, the style of it, to the different performance. We will see tomorrow.”
Yoshi Muroya (7th) was battling with the chicane in today’s training sessions but felt confident that he had at least identified the problem. The Japanese pilot posted a 1:35 run with 5 penalty seconds but the question remains as to whether he can fly clean in Qualifying. “On the last pylon of the chicane, I needed to pull really hard to gate 3 and then it was popping up,” said Muroya, whose family were watching him from the Swan River today. “The problem is from 2 to 3 and the last training was the same. I could feel it during the flight in the plane but I’ve found the problem and that’s alright. Now I just need to fix it. There are lots of places I can save time. For sure gates 1,2 and 3 are slow for me. Maybe there’s a maximum 1-second difference, which is 2 seconds across the two laps.”
Nicolas Ivanoff (8th) was his usual chameleon self in the track today with an astounding 1:28:09 in the morning followed by a 1:38 with 10 penalty seconds in the afternoon. “It was a little bit different in the track from this morning with a bit more wind and the temperature was warmer,” said Ivanoff afterwards. “The plane didn’t feel the same but the time is not that different without the penalties. It all depends, I felt it was really stable this morning but then it was bumpy this afternoon.” The French pilot also said he needed to have more faith in his new plane. “I was more hesitant in the afternoon as it was the first time the temperatures were like this in Perth. I was a bit behind the plane and tomorrow I will try to be more confident in the track,” he admitted.
Peter Besenyei (9th) was holding back on the power in the first training run today and even with no penalties, could only muster up a 1:38:74. His second run was riddled with penalties and the Hungarian admitted he’s really eager to take delivery of his new race plane in time for Windsor. “I couldn’t force the engine,” said Besenyei, who is flying last year’s MXS-R. “On race day I will try to fly with full power but I can’t do that because of the temperatures. I also had 14 litres of smoke oil and on the first run I was told to not use it as it might cause haze in the track because of the wind in the track. My plane is already 22kg over the minimum weight.”
Sergey Rakhmanin (10th) had to sit out the first training run he was owed from yesterday but due to an electrical issue, the MXS-R failed to start. Luckily the problem was fixed before the final session and Rakhmanin flew with his new engine. “There was a problem with the battery but it is now recharged. The engine wasn’t feeling too bad but I lost one training flight and that is a big thing,” said the Russian pilot, who flew a 1:47:20 and picked up several penalty seconds. “I needed that flight. I am not as ready as I could be.”
Hannes Arch (11th) was way down the pack with a penalty-ridden second run in today’s training. The Austrian pilot did benefit from an extra flight in the Perth track in the compensation training however – a rare thing for the former world champ who usually finishes in the top 4 and forfeits any further training. “I was quite surprised to be in the compensation training but then I was amused and I decided to take the best from the disaster of Abu Dhabi,” said Arch, cracking a joke after his 1:47:21 shocking run, where he picked up 10 penalty seconds. “I’m trying to get more information about the track. I was quite happy about my run but it was warmer in the track, which made it a little bit slower but I was just not concentrating as much as before; I was just feeling tired.”
Martin Sonka (12th) had some minor issues with oil pressure during this afternoon’s training but was satisfied the problems had been resolved. Posting a 1:50:94 with 10 seconds in penalties, the Czech pilot was way off the pace in his Edge 540 but didn’t seem too worried. “It was just because I saw I was going to hit the pylons so I thought it better to just go high and take the penalty,” explained Sonka. “I had some penalties for going too high but that was my strategy to work out the track by flying at the top of the pylons. I feel comfortable in the track now. I will definitely be in the track tomorrow and hopefully no penalties, maybe a little slower but clean and no pylon hits.”
Matt Hall (13th) received a DQ in the afternoon training session and was unable to improve his position going into Qualification tomorrow. His earlier run of 1:32:61 was way off the pace but the Australian pilot was in good spirits despite still struggling with the set-up of his new MXS-R. “I was having problems with gate 2 with over G,” exlplained Hall, who has a nation backing him here in Perth. “It’s exactly the same gate, I’ve done it before there. We’re still trying to set the aircraft up. Basically the centre of gravity is too far aft and I keep over G-ing in the chicane because it gets unstable. We’ve got it sorted out, well we thought we had sorted it yesterday for this morning’s flight and then we discovered we were underweight so we had to add more weight back in the plane. This morning’s flight the plane handled beautifully, yesterday it was handling poorly and then this afternoon it was handling just like yesterday.”
Michael Goulian (14th) was left frustrated after he couldn’t start in the second training session today. After posting a clean 1:32:29 in the morning session the American pilot was given a DNS on the final time sheets and lost a vital run in the track ahead of tomorrow’s Qualifying. There were technical issues with Goulian’s Edge 540 not holding oil pressure and it was decided to keep the plane on the ground. Better luck tomorrow for the Green Machine.
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