• Nigel Lamb holds the championship trophy high for the first time since joining the Red Bull Air Race in 2005. (Red Bull Content Pool)
    Nigel Lamb holds the championship trophy high for the first time since joining the Red Bull Air Race in 2005. (Red Bull Content Pool)
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Britain's Nigel Lamb has won his first Red Bull Air Race World Championship after a thrilling finish in the Austrian finale to the 2014 series yesterday.

Lamb finished second behind Frenchman Nicolas Ivanov in the final, with Czech Martin Sonka in third place. More importantly, Lamb's championship rival and local hero Austrian Hannes Arch fell to fourth place after a penalty for not having his wings level going through an air gate.

Arch needed to win the round to steal the championship from Lamb.

"My feeling right now is very, very difficult to describe. What a rollercoaster!" Lamb said afterward. "I've dreamed of this a lot, but I didn't get my aspirations too high because I knew I just had to be really, really solid, be really consistent and not make any mistakes.

"In my final run I was sure I was going to be fourth and that I'd lost the World Championship, but as it turns out the end result is just amazing!"

Frenchman Ivanov won his second round of the year leapfrogging Pete McLeod and Matt Hall to finish fourth in the championship standings.

"I'm really happy, especially as for the past few days we'd been trying to do some modifications on the plane to reduce the drag but it was not working," Ivanoc said later. "Today I just said I have to perform to the maximum and we will see. I was a little bit lucky on the first lap but after that I was really focussed on the track and that's all."

Australian Matt Hall finished a disappointing tenth in the race and sixth in the championship after being knocked out  in the Top 12 round for the first time in 2014, by American Kirby Chambliss. Hall also landed a penalty for not having his wings level going through an air gate.

Hall said he was feeling relaxed throughout the run and wasn’t even aware he had made the error until informed at the conclusion of his time in the racetrack.

“One small slip in concentration was all it took and I’m pretty disappointed,” he said.

“I was so relaxed in the plane and felt really smooth but I have reviewed the tape and there’s no doubt I rolled a split second too early in that gate.

“That’s racing and I will go away and start preparing for next season and try and come back stronger.”

The calendar for the 2015 series is expected to be released next month.

Final Standings Red Bull Air Race World Championship 2014

  1. Nigel Lamb (GBR) 62
  2. Hannes Arch (AUT) 53
  3. Paul Bonhomme (GBR) 51
  4. Nicolas Ivanov (FRA) 42
  5. Pete McLeod (CAN) 38
  6. Matt Hall (AUS) 33
  7. Matthias Dolderer (GER) 21
  8. Martin Sonka (CZE) 18
  9. Yoshihide Muroya (JPN) 10
  10. Kirby Chambliss (USA) 7
  11. Peter Besenyei (HUN) 6
  12. Michael Goulian (USA) 3
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