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2014 Red Bull Air Race World Championship

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The 2014 Red Bull Air Race World Championship was the ninth season of Red Bull Air Race World Championship,[1] and the first since 2010.

In his seventh season in the series, British pilot Nigel Lamb became the champion for the first time, with consistent finishing being the key to his championship success. After starting the season slowly with just five points from the opening two events, Lamb won his first Air Race competition at Putrajaya Lake in Malaysia, before reeling off five consecutive second-place finishes. These results were good enough for him to surpass former champions Hannes Arch and Paul Bonhomme in the standings; Lamb ultimately finished nine points clear of Arch, with Bonhomme a further two points in arrears. Both pilots won two races during the season, as Arch won at Rovinj, Croatia and at Gdynia in Poland, while Bonhomme won in Abu Dhabi and his home event, at Ascot Racecourse. Nicolas Ivanoff was another two-time event winner, winning at Texas Motor Speedway and the Red Bull Ring, with Pete McLeod winning the remaining event, at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

The series also introduced a Challenger Cup for the 2014 season, for young pilots to develop their skills. Each pilot entered at least three races in order to accrue points towards the Cup rankings, with the top six pilots after the Las Vegas event being invited to a winner-takes-all event at the Red Bull Ring. Petr Kopfstein won the race by 1.1 seconds over Halim Othman, to take the inaugural title.

Starting in 2014 it was sanctioned by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) as an official motorsport,[2] meaning provision of FAI medals especially designed for the Red Bull Air Race, the inclusion of all races in the FAI Events Calendar, and the official approval by the FAI of the race Rules & Regulations. Also, the FAI provided a safety delegate who attended all events to supervise safety aspects.[3]

Aircraft and pilots

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Master Class

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No. Pilot Aircraft Rounds
22 Austria Hannes Arch[4] Zivko Edge 540 All
91 Hungary Péter Besenyei[4] Corvus Racer 540 All
55 United Kingdom Paul Bonhomme[4] Zivko Edge 540 All
10 United States Kirby Chambliss[4] Zivko Edge 540 All
21 Germany Matthias Dolderer[4] Zivko Edge 540 All
95 Australia Matt Hall[4] MX Aircraft MXS All
27 France Nicolas Ivanoff[4] Zivko Edge 540 All
9 United Kingdom Nigel Lamb[4] MX Aircraft MXS All
84 Canada Pete McLeod[4] Zivko Edge 540 All
99 United States Michael Goulian[4] Zivko Edge 540 All
8 Czech Republic Martin Šonka[4] Zivko Edge 540 All
31 Japan Yoshihide Muroya[4] Zivko Edge 540 All

Challenger Class

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No. Pilot Rounds
7 United Kingdom Tom Bennett[5] 1–2, 4–5, 8
5 Chile Cristian Bolton[6] 4–6
11 France Mikaël Brageot[5] 1–2, 6–8
6 Poland Luke Czepiela[6] 2, 4–5, 7
18 Czech Republic Petr Kopfstein[5] 1, 3–4, 7–8
35 France François Le Vot[5] 1–3, 7–8
88 Malaysia Halim Othman[6] 3, 5, 7–8
25 Slovenia Peter Podlunšek[5] 2–3, 5–6
17 Sweden Daniel Ryfa[5] 1, 3–4, 6, 8
23 Germany Claudius Spiegel[5] 2, 4–5
26 Spain Juan Velarde[5] 1, 3, 6–7
  • Three new pilots (Bolton, Czepiela and Othman) earned race wings and officially joined the Challenger Class on April 5, 2014, after they surpassed rigorous training and testing which took place at the Red Bull Air Race Qualification Camp in Murska Sobota, Slovenia.[6]

Race calendar and results

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The eight-event calendar for the 2014 season.[7] An updated race calendar was released on 15 July, with the scheduled Chinese round being replaced by a round at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria.[8]

Round Country Location Date Fastest Qualifying Winning Pilot Winning Aircraft Winning Challenger Report
1  United Arab Emirates Abu Dhabi 28 February – 1 March Canada Pete McLeod United Kingdom Paul Bonhomme Zivko Edge 540 France François Le Vot report
2  Croatia Rovinj 12–13 April Austria Hannes Arch Austria Hannes Arch Zivko Edge 540 France François Le Vot report
3  Malaysia Putrajaya Lake, Putrajaya 17–18 May Austria Hannes Arch United Kingdom Nigel Lamb MX Aircraft MXS France François Le Vot report
4  Poland Gdynia 26–27 July United Kingdom Paul Bonhomme Austria Hannes Arch Zivko Edge 540 Germany Claudius Spiegel report
5  United Kingdom Ascot Racecourse, Ascot 16–17 August Canada Pete McLeod United Kingdom Paul Bonhomme Zivko Edge 540 Malaysia Halim Othman report
6  United States Texas Motor Speedway, Fort Worth 6–7 September Canada Pete McLeod France Nicolas Ivanoff Zivko Edge 540 France Mikaël Brageot report
7  United States Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Las Vegas 11–12 October Canada Pete McLeod Canada Pete McLeod[N 1] Zivko Edge 540 Malaysia Halim Othman report
8  Austria Red Bull Ring 25–26 October Austria Hannes Arch France Nicolas Ivanoff Zivko Edge 540 Czech Republic Petr Kopfstein report
Notes
  1. ^ Race day abandoned due to bad weather. The results for the event were determined via qualifying order.

Championship standings

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Master Class

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Master Class scoring system
Position  1st   2nd   3rd   4th   5th   6th   7th   8th   9–12th 
Points 12 9 7 5 4 3 2 1 0
Pos. Pilot UAE
United Arab Emirates
CRO
Croatia
MYS
Malaysia
POL
Poland
GBR
United Kingdom
USA1
United States
USA2
United States
AUT
Austria
Points
1 United Kingdom Nigel Lamb 5 8 1 2 2 2 2 2 62
2 Austria Hannes Arch 2 1 2 1 8 8 5 4 53
3 United Kingdom Paul Bonhomme 1 2 5 5 1 5 7 5 51
4 France Nicolas Ivanoff 8 5 11 6 3 1 6 1 42
5 Canada Pete McLeod 3 4 4 8 11 3 1 8 38
6 Australia Matt Hall 4 7 3 3 5 6 4 10 33
7 Germany Matthias Dolderer 6 9 8 11 4 4 3 11 21
8 Czech Republic Martin Šonka 7 6 6 10 9 7 8 3 18
9 Japan Yoshihide Muroya 9 3 10 12 6 9 9 9 10
10 United States Kirby Chambliss 11 10 9 4 10 10 11 7 7
11 Hungary Péter Besenyei 10 11 7 7 7 12 12 12 6
12 United States Michael Goulian DNS 12 12 9 12 11 10 6 3
Pos. Pilot UAE
United Arab Emirates
CRO
Croatia
MYS
Malaysia
POL
Poland
GBR
United Kingdom
USA1
United States
USA2
United States
AUT
Austria
Points
Colour Result
Gold Winner
Silver Second place
Bronze Third place
Green Points finish
Blue Non-points finish
Non-classified finish (NC)
Purple Retired (Ret)
Red Did not qualify (DNQ)
Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ)
Black Disqualified (DSQ)
White Did not start (DNS)
Withdrew (WD)
Race cancelled (C)
Blank Did not practice (DNP)
Did not arrive (DNA)
Excluded (EX)

Bold – Fastest Qualifying Pilot

Challenger Class

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Challenger Class pilots competed in at least three races throughout the season, with each pilot's best three scores counting towards the Challenger Cup ranking. The top six pilots in the ranking qualified for a winner-takes-all race at the Red Bull Ring.

Ranking

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Challenger Class scoring system
Position  1st   2nd   3rd   4th   5th   6th 
Points 10 8 6 4 2 0
Pos. Pilot UAE
United Arab Emirates
CRO
Croatia
MYS
Malaysia
POL
Poland
GBR
United Kingdom
USA1
United States
USA2
United States
Drop Points
1 France François Le Vot 1 1 1 6 30
2 Sweden Daniel Ryfa 2 3 2 3 6 22
3 United Kingdom Tom Bennett 5 2 3 2 2 22
4 Malaysia Halim Othman 6 1 1 20
5 France Mikaël Brageot 6 4 1 3 20
6 Czech Republic Petr Kopfstein 4 2 4 2 4 20
7 Germany Claudius Spiegel 6 1 3 16
8 Spain Juan Velarde 3 4 DSQ 4 14
9 Slovenia Peter Podlunšek 3 5 5 4 2 12
10 Chile Cristian Bolton 6 6 2 8
11 Poland Luke Czepiela 5 5 4 5 2 8
Pos. Pilot UAE
United Arab Emirates
CRO
Croatia
MYS
Malaysia
POL
Poland
GBR
United Kingdom
USA1
United States
USA2
United States
Drop Points

Final

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At the last race of the season in Austria, the top six pilots in the standings took part in a race to determine the final ranking of the Challenger Cup.

Rank Pilots Time
1 Czech Republic Petr Kopfstein 1:05.799
2 Malaysia Halim Othman 1:06.900
3 France Mikaël Brageot 1:08.112
4 France François Le Vot 1:08.132
5 Sweden Daniel Ryfa 1:15.180
6 United Kingdom Tom Bennett DNS

References

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  1. ^ "Top pilots buckle up for 2014". RedBullAirRace.com. 7 October 2013. Retrieved 20 February 2014.
  2. ^ "Red Bull to discontinue Air Race - Australian Flying".
  3. ^ "Red Bull Air Race World Championship". 10 October 2017.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "pilots". RedBullAirRace.com. Retrieved 20 February 2014.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i "New Challenger Cup ready to take off in 2014". RedBullAirRace.com. 23 January 2014. Retrieved 22 February 2014.
  6. ^ a b c d "Three New Pilots Earn Race Wings". RedBullAirRace.com. 5 April 2014. Retrieved 7 April 2014.
  7. ^ "RACES". RedBullAirRace.com. Retrieved 20 February 2014.
  8. ^ "Austria to Host Red Bull Air Race Season Final". RedBullAirRace.com. 15 July 2014. Retrieved 17 July 2014.
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