Local hero Paul Bonhomme won the Ascot round of the Red Bull Air Race last night after being the only pilot in the final four to get in a clean run.
Bonhomme clocked 1:06.416 to win ahead of Australian Matt Hall, Japan's Yoshi Moruya and Nicholas Ivanoff of France, all of whom were penalised two seconds for passing through gates at an incorrect level. It was a stunning result given that Bonhomme progressed from the Round of 14 as the lucky loser.
The win is the Briton's third out of five rounds this year, putting him in a clear lead on 46 points with three races to go. Hall is in second on 38 with Hannes Arch third on 30.
After the race, Bonhomme paid tribute to his team.
"I'd like to say thanks to the team – without the team it wouldn't have been possible," he told Red Bull Media. We did a lot of work pre-season and during the season and it seems to be paying off. The team members are the ones that have to do all the hard work, I just have to point the raceplane in the right direction.
"I thoroughly enjoyed the crowd, it didn't add pressure, but could've caused a distraction. I just had to know where to look so I didn't get distracted. There's so much to do in your head with the flying so you can't allow distractions to get in your way."
Matt Hall started the weekend qualifying in second place, then beat Canadian Pete McLeod in the Round of 14, after McLeod was penalised three seconds for hitting a pylon. The Australian's time was third fastest, setting up a Round of 8 clash with reigning champion Nigel Lamb.
He eliminated Lamb with a time of 1:06.531, 0.46 faster than his opponent. Hall knew he would have to risk it all to catch Bonhomme, who got into the Final 4 with a walkover against Hannes Arch when the Austrian's plane wouldn't start.
“My objective is to race cleanly but I deliberately went into that round thinking, if I’m going to win one, I’ve got to be prepared to lose one as well," Hall said after finishing second.
“The game plan was to get to the Final 4 and when I was there, my objective for the first time in my race career, was to be prepared to come fourth, trying to get first, whereas every other time I’ve been in the final four I’ve been just trying to get on the podium. Overall I think we did a good job.”
Hall's penalty was for flying through the gate at an incorrect level, a challenge all weekend for all pilots as they struggled to come to grips with the trees surround the course. In all, six penalties for incorrect level flying were handed out on race day; none of which were handed to Bonhomme.
The result has cemented Hall in second place in the championship.
“With Paul finishing in first and me in second there’s some more distance between us but I have put some distance between myself and the next guys so it’s looking more and more promising that I’m going to be up there in the top three at the end of the year,” Hall said.
“We’ll continue to take each race at a time and I’m look forward to the final round of the European leg of the Championships in a few weeks.”
The sixth round of the Red Bull Air Race series is at Spielberg in Austria 5-6 September.