2015 Red Bull Air Race World Championship

2015 Red Bull Air Race World Championship 2014 2016 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 Master Class No. Aircraft number Pilot Aircraft Rounds 22 AUT Hannes Archhttp://www.redbullairrace.com/en_INT/pilots pilots 9 February 2015 RedBullAirRace.com Zivko Edge 540 All 91 HUN Péter Besenyei Corvus Racer 540 1–3 Zivko Edge 540http://www.redbullairrace.com/en_US/article/besenyei-unveils-new-raceplane Besenyei unveils new raceplane 29 June 2015 2 August 2015 Red Bull Air Race World Championship Red Bull Air Race GmbH 4–8 55 GBR Paul Bonhomme Zivko Edge 540 All 10 USA Kirby Chambliss Zivko Edge 540 All 21 DEU Matthias Dolderer Zivko Edge 540 All 99 USA Michael Goulian Zivko Edge 540 All 95 AUS Matt Hall MX Aircraft MXS All 27 FRA Nicolas Ivanoff Zivko Edge 540 All 9 GBR Nigel Lamb MX Aircraft MXS All 12 FRA François Le Vot Zivko Edge 540 All 84 CAN Pete McLeod Zivko Edge 540 All 31 JPN Yoshihide Muroya Zivko Edge 540 All 8 CZE Martin Šonka Zivko Edge 540 All 26 ESP Juan Velarde Zivko Edge 540 All Entering Challenger Class competitors François Le Vot and Juan Velarde, who were fourth and eighth respectively in 2014, joined the Master Class. Challenger Class All Challenger Cup Pilots used an Extra 330LX.http://www.redbullairrace.com/en_INT/article/new-challenger-cup-ready-take-2014 New Challenger Cup ready to take off in 2014 23 January 2014 22 February 2014 RedBullAirRace.com No. Aircraft number Pilot Rounds 77 BRA Francis Barroshttp://www.redbullairrace.com/en_EN/article/new-challenger-cup-duo-land-2015 New Challenger Cup duo land for 2015 11 February 2015 11 February 2015 RedBullAirRace.com 1–3, 5–7 62 DEU Florian Bergér 1–2, 4–8 5 CHI Cristian Bolton 1–5, 7–8 11 FRA Mikaël Brageot 1, 3–4, 6–8 18 CZE Petr Kopfstein 1–2, 4–8 37 SLO Peter Podlunšek 2–8 17 SWE Daniel Ryfa 1–6, 8 Race calendar and results The eight-event calendar for the 2015 season was announced on 25 November 2014.http://www.redbullairrace.com/en_US/article/2015-race-dates-announced-japan 2015 race dates announced in Japan 25 November 2014 27 November 2014 RedBullAirRace.com 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.http://www.redbullairrace.com/en_US/article/red-bull-air-race-announces-new-race-location-2015-season Red Bull Air Race Announces New Race Location for 2015 Season 3 March 2015 26 May 2015 RedBullAirRace.com Round Country Location Date Fastest Qualifying Winning Pilot Winning Aircraft Winning Challenger Report 1 Abu Dhabi 13–14 February GBR Paul Bonhomme GBR Paul Bonhomme Zivko Edge 540 CHI Cristian Bolton report 2 Makuhari, Chiba 16–17 May FRA Nicolas Ivanoff GBR Paul Bonhomme Zivko Edge 540 CZE Petr Kopfstein report 3 Rovinj 30–31 May GBR Paul Bonhomme AUT Hannes Arch Zivko Edge 540 SWE Daniel Ryfa report 4 Budapest 4–5 July AUS Matt Hall AUT Hannes Arch Zivko Edge 540 SWE Daniel Ryfa report 5 Ascot Racecourse, Ascot 15–16 August GBR Paul Bonhomme GBR Paul Bonhomme Zivko Edge 540 CZE Petr Kopfstein report 6 Red Bull Ring, Spielberg 5–6 September cancelled AUS Matt Hall MX Aircraft MXS FRA Mikaël Brageot report 7 Texas Motor Speedway, Fort Worth 26–27 September DEU Matthias Dolderer GBR Paul Bonhomme Zivko Edge 540 FRA Mikaël Brageot report 8 Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Las Vegas 17–18 October JPN Yoshihide Muroya AUS Matt Hall MX Aircraft MXS FRA Mikaël Brageot report Championship standings Master Class 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. Position Pilot ABUUAE CHIJPN ROVCRO BUDHUN ASCGBR SPEAUT FTWUSA LVGUSA Points 1 GBR Paul Bonhomme 1 1 8 2 1 2 1 2 76 2 AUS Matt Hall 2 2 3 5 2 1 2 1 71 3 AUT Hannes Arch 4 11 1 1 8 13 10 5 34 4 CZE Martin Šonka 10 10 2 3 7 4 4 8 29 5 DEU Matthias Dolderer 9 3 6 7 10 6 5 3 26 6 JPN Yoshihide Muroya 6 8 10 9 3 10 3 4 23 7 GBR Nigel Lamb 5 5 5 8 5 12 6 10 20 8 CAN Pete McLeod 3 12 7 4 13 5 8 11 19 9 FRA Nicolas Ivanoff 8 4 9 14 4 9 7 7 15 10 USA Michael Goulian 12 6 4 11 9 7 9 6 13 11 USA Kirby Chambliss DNS 7 11 10 12 3 11 12 9 12 HUN Péter Besenyei 7 13 12 6 6 8 12 13 9 13 ESP Juan Velarde 13 9 13 13 11 11 13 9 0 14 FRA François Le Vot 11 14 14 12 14 DSQ 14 14 0 Pos. Position Pilot ABUUAE CHIJPN ROVCRO BUDHUN ASCGBR SPEAUT FTWUSA LVGUSA PointsBold – Fastest Qualifying Pilot Challenger Class 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 Pos. Position Pilot ABUUAE CHIJPN ROVCRO BUDHUN ASCGBR SPEAUT FTWUSA Drop Points dropped Points 1 FRA Mikaël Brageot 3 2 2 1 1 14 28 2 SWE Daniel Ryfa 5 2 1 1 3 3 14 28 3 CZE Petr Kopfstein 2 1 4 1 2 6 12 28 4 CHI Cristian Bolton 1 3 3 5 2 4 12 24 5 SVN Peter Podlunšek 6 4 3 4 4 2 8 18 6 DEU Florian Bergér 4 4 6 5 5 3 4 14 7 BRA Francis Barros DSQ 5 5 6 6 5 6 Pos. Position Pilot ABUUAE CHIJPN ROVCRO BUDHUN ASCGBR SPEAUT FTWUSA Drop Points dropped Points Final 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 FRA Mikaël Brageot 1:00.521 2 SVN Peter Podlunšek 1:00.556 3 CHI Cristian Bolton 1:00.920 4 CZE Petr Kopfstein 1:02.117 5 DEU Florian Bergér 1:02.255 6 SWE Daniel Ryfa 1:02.459 References External links http://www.redbullairrace.com/ Red Bull Air Race official website Category:Red Bull Air Race World Championship seasons Red Bull Air Race Red Bull Air Race