By: Red Bull Air Race 
July 3 2017 

Qualifying

Canadian pilot Pete McLeod celebrated Canada Day with 30,000 Red Bull Air Race fans in Hungary on Saturday, when he blazed to the top time in Qualifying for the World Championship stop in Budapest. Current overall leader Yoshihide Muroya of Japan stopped the clock with the second-best time, while two Czech pilots rounded out the top four results ahead of Race Day over the Danube on Sunday.

Only 33 years old, McLeod was dazzling on the 150th birthday of his vibrant young country. With a time of 59.508, he was the only pilot at the iconic Budapest stop to go sub-one minute until Muroya pushed to a 59.950 – enough to break 60 seconds, but not McLeod’s track record. The Czech Republic’s Petr Kopfstein, fresh off his career-first podium in Chiba, Japan, was third with 1:01.296, while his countryman Martin Šonka crossed the Finish Gate at 1:01.345.

Muroya has jumped to the top of the World Championship rankings by winning the previous two races. Clinching a hat trick with a Budapest win would enable him to shake off Šonka, who is tied in the points with the Japanese pilot at 30 each. Reigning World Champion Matthias Dolderer had a tough Qualifying day, earning a Did Not Finish (DNF) penalty for exceeding the G limit.

The pilots are allowed two runs in Qualifying, and McLeod surprised the large crowd when he laid down his record time in his first run and elected not to fly the second. He explained that he had hurt his neck in a previous flight and wanted to spare it extra strain with the race just 24 hours away.

“I don’t need to do more, I just need to do it again tomorrow. I’m trying to be ultra smooth and efficient out there, to let the plane run. It seems to be paying off,” stated the Canadian, who also won Qualifying at the race in Japan, only to incur an over-G penalty on Race Day. “We’ve seen some over Gs in the field here already – that’s going to be a threat to everyone. So I’m kind of in the same spot in Budapest as I was in Chiba. I’m on the limit to get times like that. I’m going to need a little bit of luck in this race.”

Qualifying determines the brackets for Sunday’s opening Round of 14, and McLeod will go head-to-head with Spain’s Juan Velarde, who logged the fastest Round of 14 time in Budapest last season. In a sure-fire nailbiter, Dolderer will clash with Muroya.

McLeod also claimed his second consecutive DHL Fastest Lap Award, which goes to the pilot who flies the fastest single lap among the two-lap Qualifying runs. At season’s end, the pilot with the most awards across the eight races will be honored with the DHL Fastest Lap trophy. McLeod’s two awards give him the lead in the competition.

See the raceplanes fly under Budapest’s Chain Bridge! Tickets for the 2017 Red Bull Air Race World Championship are on sale now – including Race Day in Hungary on Sunday, 2 July 2017. For more information on tickets and all the latest, visit www.redbullairrace.com

Results Master Class Qualifying, BUDAPEST 2017:

1. Pete McLeod (CAN) 59.508, 2. Yoshihide Muroya (JPN) 59.950, 3. Petr Kopfstein (CZE) 1:01.296, 4. Martin Šonka (CZE) 1:01.345, 5. Matt Hall (AUS) 1:01.431, 6. Michael Goulian (USA) 1:01.541, 7. Kirby Chambliss (USA) 1:01.546, 8. François Le Vot (FRA) 1:02.444, 9. Nicolas Ivanoff (FRA) 1:02.515, 10. Mikaël Brageot (FRA) 1:02.588, 11. Peter Podlunšek (SLO) 1:03.818, 12. Cristian Bolton (CHI) 1:05.235, 13. Matthias Dolderer (GER) DNF, 14. Juan Velarde (ESP) DNF

Race

Two-time Red Bull Air Race titleholder Kirby Chambliss put his 2017 season on track with a confident win at the World Championship stop in Budapest on Sunday. Canada’s Pete McLeod was scintillating in second, while Japan’s Yoshihide Muroya retained the head of the overall standings by clinching third.

Budapest is the prestigious grail that every pilot wants to win, and Chambliss now has six podiums and two victories at the stop that first hosted a Red Bull Air Race in 2003. A weekend crowd of 110,000 lined the banks of the Danube to see the raceplanes dart under the city’s Chain Bridge, where Chambliss’s 1:00.632 was just 0.108 ahead of his fellow North American McLeod. Muroya’s third place was also his third consecutive race podium, after wins in San Diego and Chiba.

As the midpoint of the season, Budapest marked a critical milestone, and Chambliss jumped up five spots to fourth in the World Championship standings with four races left to go. Muroya, meanwhile, tightened his grip on the top of the leaderboard ever so slightly, with 39 points to the 37 of the Czech Republic’s Martin Šonka, who finished fourth in the Budapest race, and McLeod moved to third overall. The day was disastrous for defending World Champion Matthias Dolderer, who edged over the G limit in the opening round for a “Did Not Finish” (DNF) penalty and dropped to sixth on the leaderboard, a full 16 points behind Muroya.

“I love Budapest. I can’t thank my team enough – it’s not a one-person effort. I over G’d in Chiba and our tactician Paulo (Iscold) told me I needed to rein it in at Budapest, so I just went out and put down a nice, clean, fast time. And it worked,” said Chambliss, who had last won a race in 2008. “I had started to forget what the Champagne tastes like, so I’m excited. Winning is easy when you’re winning – it’s not when you’re not.”

Tickets for the 2017 Red Bull Air Race World Championship – including the fifth stop, the World Championship’s debut in Kazan, Russia on 22-23 July – are on sale now.

For more information on tickets and all the latest, visit www.redbullairrace.com

Results Master Class Budapest 2017:

1. Kirby Chambliss (USA), 2. Pete McLeod (CAN), 3. Yoshihide Muroya (JPN), 4. Martin Šonka (CZE), 5. Petr Kopfstein (CZE), 6. Mikaël Brageot (FRA), 7. Nicolas Ivanoff (FRA), 8. Matt Hall (AUS), 9. Juan Velarde (ESP), 10. François Le Vot (FRA), 11. Cristian Bolton (CHI, 12. Michael Goulian (USA), 13. Matthias Dolderer (GER), 14. Peter Podlunšek (SLO)

World Championship standings after four races: 1. Yoshihide Muroya (JPN) 39 points, 2. Martin Šonka (CZE) 37 pts, 3. Pete McLeod (CAN) 26 pts, 4. Kirby Chambliss (USA) 25 pts, 5. Petr Kopfstein (CZE) 23 pts, 6. Matthias Dolderer (GER) 23 pts, 7. Juan Velarde (ESP) 15 pts, 8. Michael Goulian (USA) 14 pts, 9. Nicolas Ivanoff (FRA) 14 pts, 10. Peter Podlunšek (SLO) 12 pts, 11. Matt Hall (AUS) 11 pts, 12. Mikaël Brageot (FRA) 9 pts, 13. Cristian Bolton (CHI) 4 pts, 14. François Le Vot (FRA) 4 pts

About Red Bull Air Race:

Created in 2003, the Red Bull Air Race World Championship celebrated its landmark 75th race at the 2017 season opener in Abu Dhabi. The Red Bull Air Race World Championship features the world’s best race pilots in a pure motorsport competition that combines speed, precision and skill. Using the fastest, most agile, lightweight racing planes, pilots hit speeds of 370kmh while enduring forces of up to 10G as they navigate a low-level slalom track marked by 25-meter-high, air-filled pylons. In 2014, the Challenger Cup was conceived to help the next generation of pilots develop the skills needed for potential advancement to the Master Class that vies for the World Championship.

Canadians In BOLD