Chambliss stuns front runners with brilliant performance in Red Bull Air Race Qualifying
WINDSOR, Ontario (Canada) – American Kirby Chambliss won one world championship point at the Red Bull Air Race Qualifying in Windsor, Ontario on Saturday with a thrilling victory ahead of Sunday’s third race of the season in front of a crowd of 75,000 watching from the banks of the Detroit River. Britain’s Paul Bonhomme took second place and France’s Nicolas Ivanoff was third. Defending champion Hannes Arch of Austria shrugged off a disappointing fifth in the Qualifying after getting hit with a 2-second penalty – his worst result of the season. Canada’s Pete McLeod took a career-high 10th place to the delight of the home crowd.
After Bonhomme established himself as the pilot to beat on Saturday by putting down the fastest time in the first Qualifying session and then widening that lead further in Qualifying 2, Chambliss opened the throttle on his powerful new engine in a no-holds-barred run that was nearly 2 seconds faster than Q1. Chambliss set a course record time of 1:07.95 in the process – a full 1.26 seconds faster than Bonhomme. Despite languishing in 10th place with just 3 championship points coming into Windsor, “Comeback Kid” Chambliss had surprised the frontrunners in training on Friday with consistently fast times. And even though the 2006 world champion who won the race here last year had to make adjustments to tune down his new engine overnight, Chambliss put down a blazing time on a cloudy and cool afternoon in Windsor.
“I just went out and tried to run as fast as I could,” said Chambliss, who now has four championship points and could add 12 more with a victory on Sunday. “I cut every corner I could. I was right there on the edge. I think I went about as fast as I could go. We’re looking good. I’m excited about the engine. We’ve got an extra 40 to 50 horsepower now. We’ve been definitely lacking in the engine department.”
Chambliss had spent the 30 minutes between Q1 and Q2 talking with NASCAR driver Brian Vickers in his hangar. After crossing the finish line he flashed a wide smile before hearing his time announced by the race director.
For Bonhomme, who was just beaten by Chambliss here on this same track in the final in 2008, it was a bittersweet afternoon. Eager to move up from third behind Arch and Ivanoff, Bonhomme appeared to be on course for his first Qualifying victory of the year but once again had to settle for second. “We’ll see if I can pick up some time somewhere. My run was alright, although the start was maybe a little too aggressive. I’ll take a look at the video tonight and see where I can improve.”
McLeod, who finished last in the first races, has his sights set on the first championship points of his young career on Sunday with 10th place that qualifies him automatically for the Top 12. He would get one point for 11th place on Sunday and two if he can repeat that 10th place performance. “I’m really happy,” said McLeod, 25. “We achieved a really good result and we’ll keep going forward. The mods have helped a lot.”
Arch pointed out that his speed was good; without the penalty he would have finished second: “I’m not happy with fifth place but the good thing is that neither Paul nor Nicolas got the point but it instead went to Kirby, who is so far behind (in the championship). I’m confident that I can go faster.”
