Hall Happy to be Hunted in Hungary

 

With the return of the Red Bull Air Race, the city of Budapest was given a spectacular preview on Wednesday as Hungarian Air Racing legend Péter Besenyei led a five-raceplane formation over the heart of the city.

Flying with him were the pair of pilots tied in the points at the top of the World Championship standings: Matt Hall and Michael Goulian, as well as two up-and-comers in the international field, Petr Kopfstein and Ben Murphy.

Budapest is a classic on the calendar and more than 100,000 spectators are expected pack the banks of the Danube River across Saturday and Sunday. The crowd will watch the raceplanes fly under the historic Chain Bridge and through the racetrack on the Danube for Qualifying on Saturday, 23 June, followed by Race Day on Sunday, 24 June 2018.

Australian pilot Matt Hall is leading the championship following back-to-back victories in France and Japan. This weekend he comes into the fourth race of the year unperturbed by being chased, rather than chasing.

“Being the hunted and not the hunter doesn’t worry me, I don’t really worry about the rest of the pilots in the series. I just worry about our own performance,” Hall said.

“We don’t set out measured results as expectations. The expectation is that we operate error-free as a team and do so enthusiastically. The team is very focused, very organised and doing their job. I am confident we will achieve our aims.”

With two wins on the trot, Hall knows that winning another will be his toughest task yet. The last pilot to do so was the late Hannes Arch of Austria, who strung a trio of victories together in Australia, Brazil and Canada during the 2010 season.

“It would be nice to win three in a row, it would be nice to win seven in a row,” Hall exclaimed.

Among the line-up is defending Budapest victor Kirby Chambliss of the USA and reigning world champion Yoshihide Muroya of Japan. However, the closest rival for Hall this weekend will be American Mike Goulian, who sits second in the standings and has been in impeccable form to reach the podium in each of the first three races this season.

“It’s a high-speed track this weekend, it will be about who can do the best vertical turns without exceeding the G-force limit. There’s a really good low flat turn in there too,” said Hall.

Australian fans can follow Saturday’s action with the event live stream, which will commence online at RedBullAirRace and Facebook at 4pm local time, 12am AEST (Sunday June 24).

Race day can be watched live on Fox Sports Channel 507, with the race opening Round of 14 commencing at 1pm local time, 9pm AEST. The second stage Round of 8 and Final 4 shootout for victory will begin from 3pm local time, 11pm AEST.