Champ Wins Red Bull Season Opener

April 19, 2009 — Defending champion Hannes Arch opened defense of his 2008 title by winning the 2009 season-opening Red Bull Air Race in Abu Dhabi, but he almost didn’t get the chance. The Austrian narrowly qualified for the Final 4 race, then won with a time of 1:24.60 — less than 1 second faster than second place pilot Paul Bonhomme of Great Britain. Bonhomme won here last year and led the championship for most of the 2008 season before stumbling to second place. He was surprised that his time of 1:25.49 was not enough for the victory. “It felt like a pretty good run,” Bonhomme said. “I was actually quite pleased with that.” Arch said he had questioned if he would win because some of the other pilots had been flying so fast. “If you make the tiniest of mistakes against Paul (Bonhomme), Nicolas (Ivanoff) or Nigel (Lamb), you’ll lose. I was able to focus everything on the last run and put all my energy into it. The tactic worked out, fortunately.” Ivanoff, who took delivery of his Edge 540 just four weeks ago, stood in the third place spot on the podium. “It’s really a surprise because I only got the plane one month ago and you can’t really expect a result like that,” he said. “It’s a new plane. The technicians were working through the night for the last week to get it ready for the race. It’s a good plane. I need to avoid making so many mistakes. But if you want to go fast, you have to take risks.” Lamb took fourth place, while Americans Mike Mangold and Kirby Chambliss took seventh and ninth place respectively. Fifteen pilots from nine countries - the largest field ever assembled in the history of the race - are competing in the air race series for the right to be called world champion, flying through a low-level track made up of 65-feet high inflatable pylons at speeds reaching 230 mph and pulling up to 12G. The next race will be held in San Diego May 9-10.

Hannes Arch walks off the podium with his trophy after winning the 2009 Red Bull Air Race World Championship in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on Saturday. Andrew Parsons/Red Bull Air Race via AP Images. Hannes Arch of Austria flies around the Red Bull course during the final of the first round of the Abu Dhabi race. (Andrew Parsons/Red Bull Air Race via AP Images).

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