2015 Red Bull Air Race World Championship

The 2015 Red Bull Air Race World Championship was the tenth Red Bull Air Race World Championship series, contested over eight events in seven countries held between February and October.

2015 Red Bull Air Race World Championship
Previous: 2014 Next: 2016

British pilot Paul Bonhomme won his third world title by five points, after winning half of the eight races. His closest challenger was Australian pilot Matt Hall, and the pair finished well clear at the top of the championship. Bonhomme won the opening two races of the season in Abu Dhabi and Chiba, before an eighth-place finish – his worst result of the season – in Rovinj, saw Hall tie his points tally with three podium finishes. After Austria's Hannes Arch won in Rovinj and Budapest, Bonhomme and Hall shared the remaining victories between them; Bonhomme won at Ascot and Fort Worth, while Hall took his first Air Race victories at the Red Bull Ring and Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Arch completed the championship podium, some 42 points in arrears of Bonhomme.

The series also maintained the Challenger Cup format that was introduced for the 2014 season, for young pilots to develop their skills. Each pilot entered at least five races in order to accrue points towards the Cup rankings, with the top six pilots after the Fort Worth event being invited to a winner-takes-all event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Mikaël Brageot of France – who had topped the Cup rankings – won the race by 0.035 seconds over Peter Podlunšek, to take the title.

Aircraft and pilots

Master Class
No. Pilot Aircraft Rounds
22 Hannes Arch[1] Zivko Edge 540 All
91 Péter Besenyei[1] Corvus Racer 540 1–3
Zivko Edge 540[2] 4–8
55 Paul Bonhomme[1] Zivko Edge 540 All
10 Kirby Chambliss[1] Zivko Edge 540 All
21 Matthias Dolderer[1] Zivko Edge 540 All
99 Michael Goulian[1] Zivko Edge 540 All
95 Matt Hall[1] MX Aircraft MXS All
27 Nicolas Ivanoff[1] Zivko Edge 540 All
9 Nigel Lamb[1] MX Aircraft MXS All
12 François Le Vot[1] Zivko Edge 540 All
84 Pete McLeod[1] Zivko Edge 540 All
31 Yoshihide Muroya[1] Zivko Edge 540 All
8 Martin Šonka[1] Zivko Edge 540 All
26 Juan Velarde[1] Zivko Edge 540 All
Entering

Challenger Class
No. Pilot Rounds
77 Francis Barros[4] 1–3, 5–7
62 Florian Bergér[4] 1–2, 4–8
5 Cristian Bolton[1] 1–5, 7–8
11 Mikaël Brageot[1] 1, 3–4, 6–8
18 Petr Kopfstein[1] 1–2, 4–8
37 Peter Podlunšek[1] 2–8
17 Daniel Ryfa[1] 1–6, 8

Race calendar and results

The eight-event calendar for the 2015 season was announced on 25 November 2014.[5] An updated race calendar was released on 3 March 2015, which dropped the round in Sochi, Russia and the round in Rovinj, Croatia returned to the calendar.[6]

Round Country Location Date Fastest Qualifying Winning Pilot Winning Aircraft Winning Challenger Report
1  United Arab Emirates Abu Dhabi 13–14 February Paul Bonhomme Paul Bonhomme Zivko Edge 540 Cristian Bolton report
2  Japan Makuhari, Chiba 16–17 May Nicolas Ivanoff Paul Bonhomme Zivko Edge 540 Petr Kopfstein report
3  Croatia Rovinj 30–31 May Paul Bonhomme Hannes Arch Zivko Edge 540 Daniel Ryfa report
4  Hungary Budapest 4–5 July Matt Hall Hannes Arch Zivko Edge 540 Daniel Ryfa report
5  United Kingdom Ascot Racecourse, Ascot 15–16 August Paul Bonhomme Paul Bonhomme Zivko Edge 540 Petr Kopfstein report
6  Austria Red Bull Ring, Spielberg 5–6 September cancelled Matt Hall MX Aircraft MXS Mikaël Brageot report
7  United States Texas Motor Speedway, Fort Worth 26–27 September Matthias Dolderer Paul Bonhomme Zivko Edge 540 Mikaël Brageot report
8  United States Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Las Vegas 17–18 October Yoshihide Muroya Matt Hall MX Aircraft MXS Mikaël Brageot report

Championship standings

Master Class
Master Class scoring system
Position  1st   2nd   3rd   4th   5th   6th   7th   8th   9–14th 
Points 12 9 7 5 4 3 2 1 0
Pos. Pilot ABU
 CHI
 ROV
 BUD
 ASC
 SPE
 FTW
 LVG
 Points
1 Paul Bonhomme 1 1 8 2 1 2 1 2 76
2 Matt Hall 2 2 3 5 2 1 2 1 71
3 Hannes Arch 4 11 1 1 8 13 10 5 34
4 Martin Šonka 10 10 2 3 7 4 4 8 29
5 Matthias Dolderer 9 3 6 7 10 6 5 3 26
6 Yoshihide Muroya 6 8 10 9 3 10 3 4 23
7 Nigel Lamb 5 5 5 8 5 12 6 10 20
8 Pete McLeod 3 12 7 4 13 5 8 11 19
9 Nicolas Ivanoff 8 4 9 14 4 9 7 7 15
10 Michael Goulian 12 6 4 11 9 7 9 6 13
11 Kirby Chambliss DNS 7 11 10 12 3 11 12 9
12 Péter Besenyei 7 13 12 6 6 8 12 13 9
13 Juan Velarde 13 9 13 13 11 11 13 9 0
14 François Le Vot 11 14 14 12 14 DSQ 14 14 0
Pos. Pilot ABU
 CHI
 ROV
 BUD
 ASC
 SPE
 FTW
 LVG
 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

As in 2014, Challenger Class pilots had to compete 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 end of the season.

Challenger Class scoring system
Position  1st   2nd   3rd   4th   5th   6th 
Points 10 8 6 4 2 0

Ranking
Pos. Pilot ABU
 CHI
 ROV
 BUD
 ASC
 SPE
 FTW
 Drop Points
1 Mikaël Brageot 3 2 2 1 1 14 28
2 Daniel Ryfa 5 2 1 1 3 3 14 28
3 Petr Kopfstein 2 1 4 1 2 6 12 28
4 Cristian Bolton 1 3 3 5 2 4 12 24
5 Peter Podlunšek 6 4 3 4 4 2 8 18
6 Florian Bergér 4 4 6 5 5 3 4 14
7 Francis Barros DSQ 5 5 6 6 5 6
Pos. Pilot ABU
 CHI
 ROV
 BUD
 ASC
 SPE
 FTW
 Drop Points

Final
Main article: 2015 Red Bull Air Race of Las Vegas

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

RankPilotsTime
1 Mikaël Brageot1:00.521
2 Peter Podlunšek1:00.556
3 Cristian Bolton1:00.920
4 Petr Kopfstein1:02.117
5 Florian Bergér1:02.255
6 Daniel Ryfa1:02.459

References
  1. "pilots". RedBullAirRace.com. Retrieved 9 February 2015.
  2. "Besenyei unveils new raceplane". Red Bull Air Race World Championship. Red Bull Air Race GmbH. 29 June 2015. Retrieved 2 August 2015.
  3. "New Challenger Cup ready to take off in 2014". RedBullAirRace.com. 23 January 2014. Retrieved 22 February 2014.
  4. "New Challenger Cup duo land for 2015". RedBullAirRace.com. 11 February 2015. Retrieved 11 February 2015.
  5. "2015 race dates announced in Japan". RedBullAirRace.com. 25 November 2014. Retrieved 27 November 2014.
  6. "Red Bull Air Race Announces New Race Location for 2015 Season". RedBullAirRace.com. 3 March 2015. Retrieved 26 May 2015.
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