Wikipedia

2015 Red Bull Air Race World Championship

The 2015 Red Bull Air Race World Championship was the tenth Red Bull Air Race World Championship series, contested over eight events in seven countries held between February and October.

British pilot Paul Bonhomme won his third world title by five points, after winning half of the eight races. His closest challenger was Australian pilot Matt Hall, and the pair finished well clear at the top of the championship. Bonhomme won the opening two races of the season in Abu Dhabi and Chiba, before an eighth-place finish – his worst result of the season – in Rovinj, saw Hall tie his points tally with three podium finishes. After Austria's Hannes Arch won in Rovinj and Budapest, Bonhomme and Hall shared the remaining victories between them; Bonhomme won at Ascot and Fort Worth, while Hall took his first Air Race victories at the Red Bull Ring and Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Arch completed the championship podium, some 42 points in arrears of Bonhomme.

The series also maintained the Challenger Cup format that was introduced for the 2014 season, for young pilots to develop their skills. Each pilot entered at least five races in order to accrue points towards the Cup rankings, with the top six pilots after the Fort Worth event being invited to a winner-takes-all event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Mikaël Brageot of France – who had topped the Cup rankings – won the race by 0.035 seconds over Peter Podlunšek, to take the title.

Aircraft and pilots

edit

Master Class

edit
No. Pilot Aircraft Rounds
22   Hannes Arch[1] Zivko Edge 540 All
91   Péter Besenyei[1] Corvus Racer 540 1–3
Zivko Edge 540[2] 4–8
55   Paul Bonhomme[1] Zivko Edge 540 All
10   Kirby Chambliss[1] Zivko Edge 540 All
21   Matthias Dolderer[1] Zivko Edge 540 All
99   Michael Goulian[1] Zivko Edge 540 All
95   Matt Hall[1] MX Aircraft MXS All
27   Nicolas Ivanoff[1] Zivko Edge 540 All
9   Nigel Lamb[1] MX Aircraft MXS All
12   François Le Vot[1] Zivko Edge 540 All
84   Pete McLeod[1] Zivko Edge 540 All
31   Yoshihide Muroya[1] Zivko Edge 540 All
8   Martin Šonka[1] Zivko Edge 540 All
26   Juan Velarde[1] Zivko Edge 540 All
Entering

Challenger Class

edit
No. Pilot Rounds
77   Francis Barros[4] 1–3, 5–7
62   Florian Bergér[4] 1–2, 4–8
5   Cristian Bolton[1] 1–5, 7–8
11   Mikaël Brageot[1] 1, 3–4, 6–8
18   Petr Kopfstein[1] 1–2, 4–8
37   Peter Podlunšek[1] 2–8
17   Daniel Ryfa[1] 1–6, 8

Race calendar and results

edit

The eight-event calendar for the 2015 season was announced on 25 November 2014.[5] An updated race calendar was released on 3 March 2015, which dropped the round in Sochi, Russia and the round in Rovinj, Croatia returned to the calendar.[6]

Round Country Location Date Fastest Qualifying Winning Pilot Winning Aircraft Winning Challenger Report
1   United Arab Emirates Abu Dhabi 13–14 February   Paul Bonhomme   Paul Bonhomme Zivko Edge 540   Cristian Bolton report
2   Japan Makuhari, Chiba 16–17 May   Nicolas Ivanoff   Paul Bonhomme Zivko Edge 540   Petr Kopfstein report
3   Croatia Rovinj 30–31 May   Paul Bonhomme   Hannes Arch Zivko Edge 540   Daniel Ryfa report
4   Hungary Budapest 4–5 July   Matt Hall   Hannes Arch Zivko Edge 540   Daniel Ryfa report
5   United Kingdom Ascot Racecourse, Ascot 15–16 August   Paul Bonhomme   Paul Bonhomme Zivko Edge 540   Petr Kopfstein report
6   Austria Red Bull Ring, Spielberg 5–6 September cancelled   Matt Hall MX Aircraft MXS   Mikaël Brageot report
7   United States Texas Motor Speedway, Fort Worth 26–27 September   Matthias Dolderer   Paul Bonhomme Zivko Edge 540   Mikaël Brageot report
8   United States Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Las Vegas 17–18 October   Yoshihide Muroya   Matt Hall MX Aircraft MXS   Mikaël Brageot report

Championship standings

edit

Master Class

edit
Master Class scoring system
Position  1st   2nd   3rd   4th   5th   6th   7th   8th   9–14th 
Points 12 9 7 5 4 3 2 1 0
Pos. Pilot ABU
  		CHI
  		ROV
  		BUD
  		ASC
  		SPE
  		FTW
  		LVG
  		Points
1   Paul Bonhomme 1 1 8 2 1 2 1 2 76
2   Matt Hall 2 2 3 5 2 1 2 1 71
3   Hannes Arch 4 11 1 1 8 13 10 5 34
4   Martin Šonka 10 10 2 3 7 4 4 8 29
5   Matthias Dolderer 9 3 6 7 10 6 5 3 26
6   Yoshihide Muroya 6 8 10 9 3 10 3 4 23
7   Nigel Lamb 5 5 5 8 5 12 6 10 20
8   Pete McLeod 3 12 7 4 13 5 8 11 19
9   Nicolas Ivanoff 8 4 9 14 4 9 7 7 15
10   Michael Goulian 12 6 4 11 9 7 9 6 13
11   Kirby Chambliss DNS 7 11 10 12 3 11 12 9
12   Péter Besenyei 7 13 12 6 6 8 12 13 9
13   Juan Velarde 13 9 13 13 11 11 13 9 0
14   François Le Vot 11 14 14 12 14 DSQ 14 14 0
Pos. Pilot ABU
  		CHI
  		ROV
  		BUD
  		ASC
  		SPE
  		FTW
  		LVG
  		Points
Colour Result
Gold Winner
Silver Second place
Bronze Third place
Green Points finish
Blue Non-points finish
Non-classified finish (NC)
Purple Retired (Ret)
Red Did not qualify (DNQ)
Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ)
Black Disqualified (DSQ)
White Did not start (DNS)
Withdrew (WD)
Race cancelled (C)
Blank Did not practice (DNP)
Did not arrive (DNA)
Excluded (EX)

Bold – Fastest Qualifying Pilot

Challenger Class

edit

As in 2014, Challenger Class pilots had to compete in at least three races throughout the season, with each pilot's best three scores counting towards the Challenger Cup ranking. The top six pilots in the ranking qualified for a winner-takes-all race at the end of the season.

Challenger Class scoring system
Position  1st   2nd   3rd   4th   5th   6th 
Points 10 8 6 4 2 0

Ranking

edit
Pos. Pilot ABU
  		CHI
  		ROV
  		BUD
  		ASC
  		SPE
  		FTW
  		Drop Points
1   Mikaël Brageot 3 2 2 1 1 14 28
2   Daniel Ryfa 5 2 1 1 3 3 14 28
3   Petr Kopfstein 2 1 4 1 2 6 12 28
4   Cristian Bolton 1 3 3 5 2 4 12 24
5   Peter Podlunšek 6 4 3 4 4 2 8 18
6   Florian Bergér 4 4 6 5 5 3 4 14
7   Francis Barros DSQ 5 5 6 6 5 6
Pos. Pilot ABU
  		CHI
  		ROV
  		BUD
  		ASC
  		SPE
  		FTW
  		Drop Points

Final

edit
Main article: 2015 Red Bull Air Race of Las Vegas

At the last race of the season at Las Vegas, the top six pilots in the standings took part in a race to determine the final ranking of the Challenger Cup.

Rank Pilots Time
1   Mikaël Brageot 1:00.521
2   Peter Podlunšek 1:00.556
3   Cristian Bolton 1:00.920
4   Petr Kopfstein 1:02.117
5   Florian Bergér 1:02.255
6   Daniel Ryfa 1:02.459

References

edit
  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t "pilots". RedBullAirRace.com. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
  2. ^ "Besenyei unveils new raceplane". Red Bull Air Race World Championship. Red Bull Air Race GmbH. 29 June 2015. Retrieved 2 August 2015.
  3. ^ "New Challenger Cup ready to take off in 2014". RedBullAirRace.com. 23 January 2014. Retrieved 22 February 2014.
  4. ^ a b "New Challenger Cup duo land for 2015". RedBullAirRace.com. 11 February 2015. Retrieved 11 February 2015.
  5. ^ "2015 race dates announced in Japan". RedBullAirRace.com. 25 November 2014. Retrieved 27 November 2014.
  6. ^ "Red Bull Air Race Announces New Race Location for 2015 Season". RedBullAirRace.com. 3 March 2015. Retrieved 26 May 2015.
edit
 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to 2015 in Red Bull Air Race.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=2015_Red_Bull_Air_Race_World_Championship&oldid=1244528209"