Arch Declared Winner in Rain-Shortened Rio Red Bull Races

Rio de Janeiro – May 10, 2010 — It was hardly a fun day at the beach for pilots and 250,000 spectators at last weekend’s Red Bull Air Race. Heavy rains and winds canceled Sunday flying forcing officials to declare Hannes Arch of Austria as the winner based on Saturday’s qualifying sessions. After first delaying the Sunday air races in front of Rio de Janeiro’s Flamengo Beach, Red Bull organizers eventually canceled them due to the poor weather and unpromising forecast. Nigel Lamb and Paul Bonhomme were awarded second and third places, respectively, also based on the qualifying sessions. It was only the second time that this has happened in the 46-race history of the Red Bull Air Race World Championship. The last time was in Longleat, UK in 2006 where Bonhomme was declared the winner. The weather had been bright and sunny all week, but the poor weather came Sunday during the Top 12 round that initially forced a delay of the high-speed, low-altitude flying. But the pilots knew that rain was forecast for Sunday, and put their best efforts into winning the qualifying sessions on Saturday because of the risk the race could not be completed. Arch’s second-consecutive victory places him in third place in the world championship standings at 27 points, behind Bonhomme in first, with 32 points, and Lamb in second, with 28 points. Arch also won the last race in Perth. “It’s a good feeling to make up some points on Bonhomme,” said Arch, the 2008 world champion who was clearly delighted to take home 25 of a maximum 26 points from the last two races after stumbling with an 11th place (2 points) in the opening race in Abu Dhabi. “It was an easy way to win today but I’m happy to be able to catch up in the championship. It’s motivating me for the season…” Other qualifying results included Australia’s Matt Hall, 4th; America’s Kirby Chambliss, 5th; France’s Nicolas Ivanoff, 6th; Canada’s Pete McLeod, 7th; America’s Michael Goulian, 8th; Spain’s Alejandro MacLean, 9th; Germany’s Matthias Dolderer, 10th; Russia’s Sergey Rakhmanin, 11th, and Hungary’s Peter Besenyei, 12th. The next Red Bull Air Race takes place in Windsor, Canada, on June 5-6.

Hannes Arch of Austria celebrates his victory in the Red Bull Air Race Day on May 9, 2010 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Photo credit: Getty Images for Red Bull Air Race/Red Bull Photofile Fans wait on the beach in the rain as clouds cover Sugar Loaf Mountain during the Red Bull Air Race on May 9 in Rio de Janeiro. Photo credit: Dean Mouhtaropoulos / Getty Images for Red Bull Air Race

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