25 April 2016
VIDEO Snow, gusty winds and cold conditions affected the second round of the 2016 Red Bull Air Race World Championship staged at Spielberg, Austria over the weekend but that didn’t stop Matthias Dolderer scoring the first ever win by a German pilot in the series.
Dolderer made the notoriously tricky track in Spielberg, Austria look easy and clocked a winning time of 56.996, with the crowd going wild for Austria’s own Hannes Arch less than four-tenths of a second behind him in in second place. The 2014 World Champion Nigel Lamb finished a strong third.
The win confirms Dolderer’s place among the season favourites after his second-place finish at the season opener in Abu Dhabi last month, and puts him in the overall lead with 27 points ahead of France’s Nicolas Ivanoff with 19. While the near-miss was a disappointment for Arch, who has never won at home, it was also a much-needed boost after a slow start to the season, lifting him to third overall.
The 2015 overall runner-up Matt Hall of Australia couldn’t fly as hard as usual due to a back injury and is now in the eighth spot on the leaderboard. Fastest Qualifier Juan Velarde of Spain didn’t advance past the first round when he pushed hard and incurred a penalty.
Dolderer’s win made him part of motorsport history at Spielberg’s Red Bull Ring, which hosts Formula One and, returning this August for the first time in nearly two decades, MotoGP. He celebrated the experience with yodels!
“This is absolutely fantastic, my dream come true finally,” said Dolderer Racing. “This is like a second home race to me, and thanks go to my team and the supporters. I am really looking forward to the race at the Lausitzring in Germany.”
Results
1 Matthias Dolderer (GER)
2 Hannes Arch (AUT)
3 Nigel Lamb (GBR)
4 Pete McLeod (CAN)
5 Matt Hall (AUS)
6 Kirby Chambliss (USA)
7 Nicolas Ivanoff (FRA)
8 Peter Podlunsek (SLO)
9 Martin Sonka (CZE)
10 Michael Goulian (USA)
11 Petr Kopfstein (CZE)
12 Francois Le Vot (FRA)
13 Juan Velarde (ESP)
14 Yoshihide Muroya (JPN)
World Championship Standings
1. Matthias Dolderer (GER) 27 pts
2. Nicolas Ivanoff (FRA) 19 pts
3. Hannes Arch (AUT) 12 pts
4. Pete McLeod (CAN) 11 pts
5. Kirby Chambliss (USA) 11 pts
6. Nigel Lamb (GBR) 9 pts
7. Francois Le Vot (FRA) 9 pts
8. Matt Hall (AUS) 8 pts
9. Michael Goulian (USA) 6 pts
10. Peter Podlunsek (SLO) 3 pts
11. Yoshihide Muroya (JPN) 3 pts
12. Martin Sonka (CZE) 2 pts
13. Juan Velarde (ESP) 1 pt
14. Petr Kopfstein (CZE)
