19 August 2014
Britain’s defending Red Bull Air Race world champion, and FLYER columnist, Paul Bonhomme landed an epic home win at round five of the 2014 series at England’s historic Ascot Racecourse.
In front of a 30,000 crowd at the famous horse racing venue near London, Bonhomme produced a stunning flight to secure victory in the thrilling Final Four round, stopping the clock at 1m 11.579s. His flying edged fellow Brit and birthday boy Nigel Lamb into second place with a time of 1:11.750, while France’s Nicolas Ivanoff (1:11.884) claimed third.
After a tough qualifying round on the Ascot course, which featured the first standing start in Red Bull Air Race World Championship history, Bonhomme’s brilliant win put him back on the top step of the podium for the first time since the series’ opening round in Abu Dhabi.
The win also moves him to within two points of current championship leader Hannes Arch after the Austrian suffered his worst result of 2014 to date. Arch could finish no higher than eighth following an error-strewn Super 8 round. He now leads Bonhomme 43 points to 41 heading into the next round at the Texas Motor Speedway in Dallas on September 6–7, and with just three rounds of flying left in 2014, the championship battle between to duo looks set to be a thrilling one.
(Picture: Red Bull Content Pool)
