NEWS

07.09.2008 PILOT NEWS

Talk of the tarmac in Porto after Qualifying

Kirby Chambliss (1st) bounced back from a bitter 12th place in Budapest, a penalty-marred last race that left him 9 points adrift in the championship. The American put on a show of force in Qualifying. “It was good, it was clean,“ he said. “If I can stay with that kind of a time tomorrow, I’ll be happy. I think Paul (Bonhomme) and Hannes (Arch) went a bit conservative. I tried to go for it. It’s a straight track and we’re all going fast. The key is controlling the Gs on the loop. You’ve got to try to figure out how to stay right under the limit but not be too far under. We’re all close to the G limit. It’s a fast track.“

Hannes Arch (2nd) was relieved to put a dismal 9th place in training behind him. Because Friday’s two training sessions were rained out, Arch admitted fears about not having a good run ahead of Qualifying. “I was really struggling with my results from training. I was worried about Qualifying. But I was able to fly two safe runs without penalty and even had fast times. That makes me happy about tomorrow.” Arch was also not too bothered about a 2,000-euro penalty for forgetting to turn his smoke on in Q1: “There’s so much going on mentally, you have to be really concentrated and I was pretty tense about Qualifying.“

Nigel Lamb (3rd) had a brilliant Qualifying session that confirmed his ascending form. He said the fast Porto course offers a golden opportunity for a podium finish. “My plane is too heavy, but it has high aerodynamic efficiency. It handles well, but the power and weight ratio puts me at a disadvantage. Of all the races, however, I have the best chance here.” Lamb said despite Chambliss’s strong showing, the race is as wide open as it was last year when Steve Jones was the surprise winner. “Several people can still win this. I think I have a very good chance of being on the podium.”

Mike Mangold (4th) said his plane doesn’t have the speed to keep up with Chambliss on the Porto track but said getting on the podium was nevertheless a possibility. “We’re satisfied overall. I could go a couple of 10ths of a second faster here or there. We got a shot at the podium. That’s the aim. I’m going to try to find a bit more speed at the start and there’s a few tiny things I could do. But there’s not much a pilot can do on this course. It’s an airplane race. It’s a speed race. Kirby’s got the fastest plane with the big motor.“

Peter Besenyei (5th) jumped from 8th to 5th with a strong Q2. He said it is so close that anything can happen on Sunday. “Four pilots were separated by one-tenth of a second. I was expecting that due to the course. It’s straight and fast.”

Alejandro Maclean (6th) was full of praise for the performance of his new carbon fibre propeller, saying it opened up greater opportunities for speed. But Maclean admitted he has little chance of catching the race’s leaders. “The problem is the plane’s excessive weight and lack of power. We can’t do it with this plane. Our new plane is already being built.” Maclean has high hopes for the new aircraft, also an MXS, but new and improved, which he plans to use next year. “It’s superior in all aspects,” Maclean said.

Michael Goulian (7th) was happy that he made it into the top eight but he is nevertheless frustrated that he was unable to maintain the top performance he showed in Thursday’s training, where he came second. “I was very well prepared for the first training. I had the right strategy, but it also gave some of the other pilots a chance to see how best to fly the course. On the first day of training, some are more prepared than others, but by the day of the race, everyone knows how best to fly the course.” Goulian remained upbeat. “I can’t expect glorious results because I don’t have a glorious plane, but I should be able to make 1:09.0. If I can get into the top four, that would be great.”

Steve Jones (8th), who won here in Porto last year, was stunned that so many other planes had passed his this year – even though his plane is also faster. “I can’t get it any faster. I’ve been looking at the video analysis and can’t see where I made any errors. I don’t know what else I could do. That’s as fast as I can go, so I’m a bit disappointed. It’s a slightly different course than last year, which suited me well. This plane is faster than it was last year but everyone else has moved on as well. There are so many fast planes in the race.“ There was only 1.6 seconds separating 3rd from 9th and 1.2 separated 4th to 8th. Jones originally was 9th but moved up later after Bonhomme was disqualified.

Nicolas Ivanoff (9th) was under no illusion he could achieve top results in Porto after getting a spectacular 2nd place in London with his Extra that excels on courses with tough turns. He nevertheless hoped for at least a top 8 finish and was disappointed with 9th. “For me it was not so good. My plane is not really fast. I knew it before the race but I was hoping to make the top eight. It didn’t happen.”

Sergey Rakhmanin (10th) may have been well behind the leaders, but the Russian pilot said his main aim is to improve. He said he is racing against himself. “It’s the same as it was the day before yesterday, no changes.” Unlike many of the other pilots who are constantly modifying their aircraft in search of extra speed, Rakhmanin didn’t make any modifications to his plane for this race. “It’s impossible. To fly faster, I need another plane. I cannot compete with the other pilots. I’m competing against myself.”

Glen Dell (11th) took his 11th place finish in stride. “I’m having a great time. The weather was absolutely perfect. The track is great. It’s relatively simple, although the last time I said that I hit a pylon the next day.” One of the rookie’s biggest problems is the lack of flying time in his race plane. “It would be really nice to just fly the plane, even if it’s not very low- level amongst the pylons. I have the opportunity of practicing in another aircraft but it’s not the same as the Edge.”

Paul Bonhomme (12th) was disappointed about being disqualified for exceeding the maximum load factor of 12 Gs. He will start in the Point One competition and hope for the one point up for grabs for a possible 9th place finish to keep his championship hopes alive. “I know the rules. Kirby was within the rules by 1/10th second and I was on the other side by 1/10th second,” he said. “I went up to what I thought was the limit but I went beyond it and I’ve been nailed for it, so that’s fair enough.”