ISTANBUL, 5 June 2007 — Over one million spectators crowded the banks of Golden Horn estuary in Istanbul, Turkey, to watch Mike Mangold (Team Cobra/USA) beat Paul Bonhomme (Team Matador/GBR) in the 4th Red Bull Air Race World Series event of the season on Saturday.
The world’s best pilots raced through an obstacle course, just meters above the estuary that marks the boundary between Europe and Asia. In a thrilling quarterfinal showdown, Peter Besenyei (HUN), the winner of the last Red Bull Air Race in Monument Valley, USA, was nipped by Alejandro Maclean (ESP) by just 0.04 seconds.
Mangold picked up his first win of the Red Bull Air Race World Series after completing a superb run at speeds of up to 400 kph (250 mph) and dealing with forces of up to 10G through the spectacular Air Gate course stretched out in the estuary between the Galata Bridge and the Atatürk Bridge in a time of 01:31.78 minutes to edge out Paul Bonhomme, who trailed by 1.39 seconds through the circuit.
In the consolation race for third place, Kirby Chambliss (USA) beat Alejandro Maclean (+5.26 seconds). The stop in Istanbul, the fourth leg of the 10-race Red Bull Air Race World Series, was the first of the season in Europe and marked a return to water and sea level after last month’s stop in the altitude of Monument Valley, that was held over the rugged western landscape on the Utah-Arizona border. The first two races of the year were also staged at sea level in Abu Dhabi and Rio de Janiero. The next stop is in Interlaken, Switzerland on July 14-15. Last year, there were more than six million spectators at eight races. Bonhomme currently leads the championship with 20 points followed by Mike Mangold just one point behind.
