2 August 2008
Paul Bonhomme has secured pole position for tomorrow’s Red Bull London Air Race, with a terrific qualifying run over the Thames. Hannes Arch of Austria was second and American Mike Mangold took third. Nigel Lamb of Britain was fourth.
Bonhomme is currently well in the lead of the series standings, and tomorrow’s pole advantage, should he turn it into a victory, will see him move into an almost invincible position.
It wasn’t such good news for Steve Jones, another British pilot, who will be competing tomorrow in the Point One race (four pilots fighting for one championship point) rather than the main Super Eight competition, after he qualified in ninth.
Bonhomme’s day was soured slightly when he was fined €2,000 for flying the first qualifying session without his smoke turned on.
Mike Mangold, Bonhomme’s closest rival, suffered a worse fate: his first qualifying run was wiped out when he suffered a ‘mechanical failure’ – part of his tail fairing fell off on take-off.
