Hall tops Final Practice in Red Bull Opener

Matt Hall clocked the fastest time in final practice for Round One of the Red Bull Air Race (RBAR) series in Abu Dhabi overnight.

The Australian recorded a time of 00:56.747 to eclipse both Hannes Arch (00:56.940) and Paul Bonhomme (00:57.198).

Hall later said the new winglets added to his MXS racer were already making a difference.

"We targeted the winglets for more efficiency, and the only way we're going to use that efficiency is for me to fly efficiently. We're just out there trying to be as smooth and consistent as possible.

"It's good for us to see that we've got a pretty quick set-up at the moment. It's confidence building; we don't have to be panicking about changing anything.

"I think there's still a few points in there that we could squeeze a little bit more out. We need to look at the data from the flight, but I do think there's probably another couple of hundredths [of a second] out there that we could grab."

Hall's final time was not the fastest he clocked in practice. In the previous session, his time of 00:56.548 was .199 faster, but good enough only for second place behind Bonhomme's 00:56.465. Also, the USA's Michael Goulian clocked a chart-topping 00:56.644 in final practice, but was penalised two seconds for flying through a gate at the wrong level.

The results show that the competition is set to be very even again this year, with Hall well in the mix.

Although encouraged, Hall is not predicting a race win just yet.

"There aren't any Red Bull World Championship points handed out two days before the Final 4," he said, "but it's nice to know that I found a good line through the track and that I'm flying consistently."

Round One of the RBAR is on Saturd

ay with qualifying starting at 11.00pm AEDT tonight. The race can be watched live on the

Red Bull Air Race website.

Final Practice Times

*Includes penalty for incorrect level flying

**Includes penalties for a pylon strike and incorrect level flying