2014 Red Bull Air Race World Championship

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.

2014 Red Bull Air Race World Championship
Previous: 2010 Next: 2015

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.

Aircraft and pilots

Master Class
No. Pilot Aircraft Rounds
22 Hannes Arch[2] Zivko Edge 540 All
91 Péter Besenyei[2] Corvus Racer 540 All
55 Paul Bonhomme[2] Zivko Edge 540 All
10 Kirby Chambliss[2] Zivko Edge 540 All
21 Matthias Dolderer[2] Zivko Edge 540 All
95 Matt Hall[2] MX Aircraft MXS All
27 Nicolas Ivanoff[2] Zivko Edge 540 All
9 Nigel Lamb[2] MX Aircraft MXS All
84 Pete McLeod[2] Zivko Edge 540 All
99 Michael Goulian[2] Zivko Edge 540 All
8 Martin Šonka[2] Zivko Edge 540 All
31 Yoshihide Muroya[2] Zivko Edge 540 All

Challenger Class
No. Pilot Rounds
7 Tom Bennett[3] 1–2, 4–5, 8
5 Cristian Bolton[4] 4–6
11 Mikaël Brageot[3] 1–2, 6–8
6 Luke Czepiela[4] 2, 4–5, 7
18 Petr Kopfstein[3] 1, 3–4, 7–8
35 François Le Vot[3] 1–3, 7–8
88 Halim Othman[4] 3, 5, 7–8
25 Peter Podlunšek[3] 2–3, 5–6
17 Daniel Ryfa[3] 1, 3–4, 6, 8
23 Claudius Spiegel[3] 2, 4–5
26 Juan Velarde[3] 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.[4]

Race calendar and results

The eight-event calendar for the 2014 season.[5] 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.[6]

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

Championship standings

Master Class
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
 CRO
 MYS
 POL
 GBR
 USA1
 USA2
 AUT
 Points
1 Nigel Lamb 5 8 1 2 2 2 2 2 62
2 Hannes Arch 2 1 2 1 8 8 5 4 53
3 Paul Bonhomme 1 2 5 5 1 5 7 5 51
4 Nicolas Ivanoff 8 5 11 6 3 1 6 1 42
5 Pete McLeod 3 4 4 8 11 3 1 8 38
6 Matt Hall 4 7 3 3 5 6 4 10 33
7 Matthias Dolderer 6 9 8 11 4 4 3 11 21
8 Martin Šonka 7 6 6 10 9 7 8 3 18
9 Yoshihide Muroya 9 3 10 12 6 9 9 9 10
10 Kirby Chambliss 11 10 9 4 10 10 11 7 7
11 Péter Besenyei 10 11 7 7 7 12 12 12 6
12 Michael Goulian DNS 12 12 9 12 11 10 6 3
Pos. Pilot UAE
 CRO
 MYS
 POL
 GBR
 USA1
 USA2
 AUT
 Points
ColourResult
GoldWinner
Silver2nd place
Bronze3rd place
GreenPoints finish
BlueNon-points finish
Non-classified finish (NC)
PurpleRetired (Ret)
RedDid not qualify (DNQ)
Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ)
BlackDisqualified (DSQ)
WhiteDid not start (DNS)
Withdrew (WD)
Race cancelled (C)
Blank Did not participate (DNP)
Excluded (EX)

Bold – Fastest Qualifying Pilot

Challenger Class

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
Challenger Class scoring system
Position  1st   2nd   3rd   4th   5th   6th 
Points 10 8 6 4 2 0
Pos. Pilot UAE
 CRO
 MYS
 POL
 GBR
 USA1
 USA2
 Drop Points
1 François Le Vot 1 1 1 6 30
2 Daniel Ryfa 2 3 2 3 6 22
3 Tom Bennett 5 2 3 2 2 22
4 Halim Othman 6 1 1 20
5 Mikaël Brageot 6 4 1 3 20
6 Petr Kopfstein 4 2 4 2 4 20
7 Claudius Spiegel 6 1 3 16
8 Juan Velarde 3 4 DSQ 4 14
9 Peter Podlunšek 3 5 5 4 2 12
10 Cristian Bolton 6 6 2 8
11 Luke Czepiela 5 5 4 5 2 8
Pos. Pilot UAE
 CRO
 MYS
 POL
 GBR
 USA1
 USA2
 Drop Points

Final

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.

RankPilotsTime
1 Petr Kopfstein1:05.799
2 Halim Othman1:06.900
3 Mikaël Brageot1:08.112
4 François Le Vot1:08.132
5 Daniel Ryfa1:15.180
6 Tom BennettDNS

References
  1. "Top pilots buckle up for 2014". RedBullAirRace.com. 7 October 2013. Retrieved 20 February 2014.
  2. "pilots". RedBullAirRace.com. Retrieved 20 February 2014.
  3. "New Challenger Cup ready to take off in 2014". RedBullAirRace.com. 23 January 2014. Retrieved 22 February 2014.
  4. "Three New Pilots Earn Race Wings". RedBullAirRace.com. 5 April 2014. Retrieved 7 April 2014.
  5. "RACES". RedBullAirRace.com. Retrieved 20 February 2014.
  6. "Austria to Host Red Bull Air Race Season Final". RedBullAirRace.com. 15 July 2014. Retrieved 17 July 2014.
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