JEDDAH: The race calendar for 2009 Red Bull Air Race World Championship has been announced. The race takes off in Abu Dhabi, the traditional season opener, on April 17-18, followed by San Diego (USA) May 9-10, Windsor (Ontario, Canada) June 13-14, Budapest (Hungary) Aug. 19-20, Porto (Portugal) Sept. 12-13 and Barcelona (Spain) Oct. 3-4.
Fifteen of the world’s top race pilots, including four rookies from four corners of the globe, will compete in this year’s championship. The opening round in the UAE capital will be held with the support of Abu Dhabi Sports Council President Sheikh Hazza Bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
The expanded field of fifteen pilots has led to the creation of a slick new race format that includes a ‘wild card’ session to open race day. The day will provide constant action with four pilots going up against each other in the final for a place on the podium.
“We’re really excited to be returning to Barcelona after such a successful race there three years ago with an absolutely fantastic crowd,” Bernd Loidl, CEO of Red Bull Air Race, told the media yesterday.
“The Red Bull Air Race has advanced considerably since then and thanks to some of the changes we’ve introduced, this season will be the most exciting yet. We’re also delighted to have our first Canadian race in the province of Ontario and to welcome four new pilots on board,” he added.
Austrian Hannes Arch, who became the first European to win the championship last year, will be seeking to defend his title against a talented crop of pilots who have all been busy honing their skills in the off-season and working on improvements to their planes. They will all be up against four new pilots from four continents who join the elite field this year.
At age 25, Canada’s Pete McLeod will be the youngest ever pilot in the high-speed, precision flying race and he will be joined by three other rookies — Japan’s Yoshihide Muroya, Australia’s Matt Hall and Germany’s Matthias Dolderer.
The Red Bull Air Race World Championship pilots include:
2008 World Champion Hannes Arch (AUT), 2nd in 2008 Paul Bonhomme (GBR), 3rd in 2008 Kirby Chambliss (USA), Mike Mangold (USA), Peter Besenyei (HUN), Nigel Lamb (GBR), Alejandro Maclean (ESP), Nicolas Ivanoff (FRA), Michael Goulian (USA), Sergey Rakhmanin (RUS), Glen Dell (RSA), Matthias Dolderer (GER), Matt Hall (AUS), Pete McLeod (CAN) and Yoshihide Muroya (JPN).
