Matt Hall has vowed to concentrate on flying smoother in this weekend's Red Bull Air Race in Malaysia after pylon strikes in both of the first two rounds of the series.
"I'm really focusing on clean flying this race," he told Red Bull Radio. "I've made an error on both races so far, and I know that we've got a fast plane, I know I can fly smoothly, so we've wound it back a notch for this race. So we're going to concentrate for the whole week, not just race day - zero errors - and we'll see how we go flying more conservatively but very smoothly."
After tackling challenging conditions and track layout in Rovinj, Croatia, in the last round, Hall said that most of the pilots were settling into the Putrajaya track well.
"It's definitely an easier track for everybody compared to Rovinj," he commented. "All the pilots are actually breathing a sigh of relief, because I don't think any of the pilots really enjoyed track flying in Rovinj because of how drastically different the track was every day. Overall, I think everyone's probably got a smile on their face, which is good."
From his very first flight, Hall could see the difference in performance from his MXS-R racer, which he attributes to the high temperature and humidity in Malaysia.
"I must admit I took off and thought there was something wrong with the plane; it just wasn't performing like it normally would, but that's just the temperature and the humidity really effecting the performance of the aircraft, but that's something we all have to deal with.
"The good news is the track is not a tight-turning track, so there's no risk to us of making an error and g-stalling the aircraft down low because of it, so it's actually quite a good track in that regard. As far as the pilots are concerned, I love it! This is how it feels for me all the time back home in Australia and we've got our cool suit working perfectly so I'm actually happy as Larry sitting in that cockpit."
With no race in Australia this season, Hall sees this round as effectively his local race, having been deployed to Malaysia several times during his 18-year career as an F/A-18 pilot in the RAAF.
“I have some great memories of Malaysia and in particular Kuala Lumpur and the surrounding areas,” Hall said. “I’ve also come up here a bunch of times in the last few years coaching a group of pilots in aerobatics so it feels in some ways like a second home.”
Qualification for the race is on Saturday evening (AEST) with the race day beginning on Sunday at 1730 (AEST). Fuel TV in Australia will broadcast the event live from 1800 and live streaming will be available via www.redbullairrace.com at the same time.