15 August 2016
+VIDEO It’s not over yet! The 2016 Red Bull Air Race World Championship has been dominated by Germany’s Matthias Dolderer but at the British round over last weekend, Australia’s Matt Hall found his form and took the win, bumping up the championship standings to third.
In the Final, hall posted a fastest time of 1:03:426, beating by more than a second Dolderer’s 1:04:887. Hannes Arch of Austria took third and retained second place in the championship.
However, this came after Dolderer set a stunning new track record of 1:03.266 in the Round of 8. He flew more conservatively as the last to go in the Final 4, after Arch and the United States’ Michael Goulian had both earned “DNF” (“Did Not Finish”) penalties.
Hall said afterwards, “I feel brilliant. I wasn’t sure how I was going to be received as the Aussie winning on British soil, but the standing ovation from tens of thousands of people as I got out of the raceplane – these are life memories.”
Spectacular setting for the British round of the Red Bull Air Race World Championship – Ascot horse racing course. Top: Matt Hall won the race, moving up to third in the series. Photos: Red Bull
He’s in no doubt how difficult it will be to beat Dolderer to the championship title though.
“We’re in a hard position,” said Hall. “I can get enough points to beat Matthias, but it depends on what he does. If we win the next three races, there’s another 45 points we put on and we’ll see what happens.“
In Saturday’s action, American pilot Kevin Coleman earned his career-first win in the Challenger Class. The air race will return to the US at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in October.
Results Master Class Ascot
World Championship Standings
Next race: 3-4 September, Lausitzring, Germany
Red Bull Air Race World Championship
