Arch beats Lamb in Red Bull Air Race Rio Qualifying in front of record crowd

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil - Hannes Arch of Austria came from behind to beat Nigel Lamb of

Britain in dramatic fashion on Saturday to win one vital championship point with the fastest

Qualifying time at the Red Bull Air Race in Rio de Janeiro in front of a record qualifying-day

crowd of 400,000. Britain’s Paul Bonhomme, who still leads the overall championship, was a

disappointing third on the high-speed, low-altitude 5,634-metre race track set up in front of

Rio’s Flamengo Beach.

Hamish Blair / Getty Images for Red Bull Air Race

Pete McLeod of Canada in action during the Red Bull Air
Qualifying Day on May 8, 2010 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
McLeod qualified 7th.

Arch, who was in second place behind Lamb after the first of two Qualifying runs ahead of

Sunday’s race, opened the throttle on his second run under brilliant blue skies and tropical

temperatures. Although afternoon sea breezes were slowing down most of the pilots, the

Austrian managed to shave nearly a second off his earlier time to deny Lamb the one point

awarded to the fastest qualifier. Arch stopped the clock in 1:20.44, 0.73 ahead of Lamb and

1.18 ahead of Bonhomme. The defending champion, Bonhomme, still leads the championship

with 22 points with Lamb (18) in second and Arch (15) alone in third.

An even bigger crowd of up to one million is expected for the race on Sunday. There was a

crowd of one million at the first race here in 2007.

Hamish Blair / Getty Images for Red Bull Air Race

Fans watch Kirby Chambliss of USA in action during the Red Bull
Air Qualifying Day on May 8, 2010 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Chambliss qualified 5th,

“I'm pleased I was able to raise my game today. We need every point to catch up with Paul.

The engine works great and my team is working great. I'm really motivated for tomorrow,” said

Arch.

“I enjoyed that,” said Lamb, who is off to the best year of his career with 18 points from the

first two races. “I love the set up of the aircraft and just loved being on the track today. Of

course I’m disappointed not to get the championship point. But it was a very positive day.”

Australia’s Matt Hall took a promising fourth place in Qualifying, just 1.54 behind Arch, while

American Kirby Chambliss (5th), Frenchman Nicolas Ivanoff (6th), Canada’s Pete McLeod

(7th) and American Michael Goulian (8th) were all within striking range of a podium on

Sunday with less than 3.5 seconds separating the leaders. The enormous home crowd

cheered heartily for Michael Goulian, who was flying in Brazilian colours after signing a

sponsorship agreement with Brazilian energy company Petrobras.

08 May 2010

It was a disappointing afternoon in Brazil for Russia’s Sergey Rakhmanin (11th), Hungary’s

Peter Besenyei (12th), Japan’s Yoshi Muroya (13th) and Martin Sonka of the Czech Republic

(14th). They failed to qualify for spots in Sunday’s final but will get a second chance to win the

final two spots in the Wild Card competition early on Sunday.

The weekend’s race in Rio is the second consecutive race this year in the Southern

Hemisphere, the first time in Red Bull Air Race history that there have been back-to-back

races south of the equator and a reflection of the growing popularity of the high-speed, low

altitude sport around the world. Brazilian rookie Adilson Kindlemann will only be a spectator

after his plane was wrecked in an accident in Perth.

Race Day starts at 10:00am local time on Sunday. 

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