GB wins team award at World Microlight Championships

British pilots Rob and William Grimwood are World Microlight Champions.

They won the Two-Seat Weightshift class at the 2024 World Microlight Championships held at Deenethorpe Airfield in late July/early August.

Great Britain took the Overall Team award, followed by Czechia and Poland.

Podium for the Two-seat Weightshift class: centre Rob and William Grimwood, left Matous Adam and Ladislav Teply of Czechia, and the French pair Patricia Be and Emilie Paperin in third

There were 55 crews representing 12 nations in the FAI championships. Brilliant weather ‘made for a cheerful atmosphere’ for the ten tasks in navigation, precision and economy set by competition director, Owain Jones and his team.

Owain Johns said, “It’s been a brilliant two weeks. We had wonderful weather (which helps!) but more importantly we had a fantastic team of marshalls and sponsors, combine this with a high level of piloting and navigational skills and you have an excellent competition.

“The quality of airmanship throughout the competition was superb with memorable performances throughout the five classes.”

In case you’re wondering what World Championship flying entails, here’s the list of tasks:

FINAL RESULTS

Overall Team

1. Great Britain
2. Czechia
3. Poland

Weightshift two-seater (WL2)

1. Rob Grimwood/William Grimwood, GBR
2. Matous Adam/Ladislav Teply, CZE
3. Patricia Be/Emilie Paperin, FRA

Weightshift single seater (WL1)

1. Maksim Urasov, LTU
2. Blazej Piech, POL
3. Guilhem Rolland, FRA

Three-axis two-seater (AL2)

1. Yuriy Yakovlyev/Timofii Lakovliev, UKR
2. Lukas Kucera/Jan Parez, CZE
3. Lukas Behounek/Krystof Bobek, CZE

Three-axis single-seater (AL 1)

1. Marek Velat, CZE
2. Joint silver: Rees Keene, GBR + Vaclav Puza, CZE

Gyrocopter two-seater (GL2)

1. Piotr Gajewski/Marcin Gajewski, POL
2. Vince Ferinc/Zsolt Dömötör, HUN
3. Johannes Lemburg/Gisela Böllhoff, GER

Fine effort by Team GB at the championships

Sponsors of the event

• CFS Aeroproducts Ltd
• Fly Rotax
• Exodus Airsports
• Flylight Airsports
• Trig Avionics
• Pooleys Flight Equipment Ltd
• Eccleston Aviation – Genuine Rotax Spares
• Fly About Aviation
• Pipistrel Aircraft
• British Microlight Aircraft Association
• Fédération Française d’ULM – FFPLUM
• Micro Maintenance
• GS Aviation Europe Ltd

WMC2024 website for full results and more photos from the event