Red Bull Air Race

Peter Besenyei is one of the most successful pilots in race history and is widely admired for his smooth yet aggressive style of flying. He rarely makes mistakes and was the only pilot in 2009 without a single pylon hit. An expert aviator, Besenyei tends to excel on the difficult tracks.

Besenyei is sometimes referred to as the godfather of the Red Bull Air Race because of his work helping develop it - and his economic use of words. He gives legendary mono-syllabic answers even when things are going well. Besenyei works indefatigably to improve his plane, which he sees as a most crucial element to success in the race. He switched from an Edge 540 to an Extra 300SR and then to an MXS-R. Besenyei won 2 of the first 3 races of the 2007 season but has not been on top of the podium since. He had only two 4th place finishes in 2010, his most disappointing in his race career.

Besenyei, who has helped draw enormous crowds to the Budapest race each year, believes that with a fast plane he will be on the podium again in 2010. Besenyei has not had as many top results in the last 2 years as in the first 3 years of his career but no one is writing off the wily Hungarian ace yet.

Besenyei has claimed just about every aerobatics prize to be won. A national hero in Hungary for his achievements and the first man to fly upside down beneath the Chain Bridge in Budapest, Besenyei is a flight instructor and test pilot. A wine connoisseur, Besenyei likes to ski and fish in his spare time.

THE TEAM

The Hungarian team members are fellow pilot Sandor Kordas as team coordinator and tech Tibor Nagy. Kordas will gain additional flying experience in 2010 on Beseneyi’s raceplane to enable him to develop his role further. With a selection of machines to choose from, Nagy is up to speed on both the Edge 540 and MXS-R. With over 20 years’ experience as an aircraft engineer, he has been Besenyei’s right hand man since 2004. Placing strong value on a more traditional approach to achieving aircraft performance, Nagy has proven that the team’s plane can still fly fast even without radical mods.