BUDAPEST, Hungary – Austria’s Hannes Arch thoroughly dominated the fourth and final training session in Budapest on Tuesday ahead of the Red Bull Air Race World Championship’s Qualifying session on Wednesday. The defending champion posted a dazzling time of 1:11.13 that was 2.33 seconds ahead of France’s Nicolas Ivanoff in second place and 2.40 ahead of American Michael Goulian in third. Arch, whose championship lead melted to one point coming to Budapest, is hoping for another win in the pivotal race in the Hungarian capital city that kicks off the second half of the 6-race season – in three of the last four years the winner of Budapest went on to win the championship.

“I’m really happy because it’s the first time that I was able to go through a training run the way I wanted to,” said Arch, who got the first of his three career victories here in Budapest a year ago en route to winning the 2008 championship. “Everything worked well. It was a safe run, a fast run, the engine worked and the aircraft worked. If I can repeat that performance in the next two days I’ll be very happy.”

Arch made it look almost easy with his flawless dash through the 6.6 km course set up just metres above the green waters of the Danube River in the heart of Budapest even though temperatures rose above 30 degrees. He then returned to his hangar to watch one rival after another struggle to match his time on the difficult high-speed course that starts under the Chain Bridge. His main rival, Britain’s Paul Bonhomme, picked up a 2-second penalty and ended up in 5th place – more than 5 seconds behind.

“It was a pretty good run for me but I don’t think it’s going to be possible to be faster than Hannes,” said Ivanoff, who was a distant second on Tuesday. “I have to try to find better lines. It’s a fast track and a bit like skiing slalom. You have no time between the gates. If you turn too late you change the angles between gates and then end up going through with too much energy. It’s very hard to get the right line.”

Goulian was pleased to be in contention for a podium spot after spending the first half of the season stuck in the bottom half of the field. Goulian, who decided to stop looking at other pilots’ flying lines, is looking to move up from 11th position in the championship with a strong showing in Budapest. “The runs are consistent and I’m happy with where we are,” Goulian said. “I’m confident about the race. I’m just sticking to my game plan and I’m not watching anyone else fly. I don’t want to know what they’re doing. I’m just watching my video and doing my thing. I’m trying not to get distracted. It’s working well.”

Australia’s Matt Hall and American Mike Mangold were disqualified for exceeding the 200 knot speed limit at the starting line while Hungary’s Peter Besenyei and Japan’s Yoshi Muroya were also disqualified halfway through their runs. American Kirby Chambliss did not start due to a mandatory inspection of his aircraft after he exceeded the 12G limit in the morning training session.

Tens of thousands of spectators are expected to line the banks of the Danube River to watch 15 of the world’s best pilots battle it out in Qualifying, which starts at 13:00 on Wednesday, and the race, which starts at 13:00 on Thursday.

Results Third Training

Rank	Name	Nation	Int. 1	Int. 2	Int. 3	Rnd.	Time	Diff.	Pen
1	Goulian Michael	USA	  13.97	  30.64	  50.15	Run 3	1:11.03	Â	 0
2	Bonhomme Paul	GBR	  14.54	  31.37	  50.79	Run 1	1:11.49	 + 0.46	 0
3	Arch Hannes	AUT	  15.20	  32.32	  51.90	Run 2	1:12.35	 + 1.32	 0
4	Ivanoff Nicolas	FRA	  14.65	  32.00	  51.12	Run 3	1:12.47	 + 1.44	 0
5	Besenyei Peter	HUN	  15.08	  32.53	  51.88	Run 3	1:12.87	 + 1.84	 0
6	Chambliss Kirby	USA	  14.71	  32.82	  51.83	Run 2	1:13.01	 + 1.98	 0
7	Mangold Mike	USA	  15.04	  32.50	  51.76	Run 3	1:13.41	 + 2.38	 0
8	Hall Matt	AUS	  15.74	  33.05	  52.09	Run 1	1:13.59	 + 2.56	 0
9	Lamb Nigel	GBR	  15.48	  33.33	  52.96	Run 2	1:14.47	 + 3.44	 0
10	Dell Glen	RSA	  15.08	  32.97	  53.23	Run 3	1:14.99	 + 3.96	 0
11	Muroya Yoshihide	JPN	  16.04	  33.90	  53.95	Run 2	1:15.43	 + 4.40	 0
12	Dolderer Matthias	GER	  15.58	  33.15	  55.07	Run 1	1:16.21	 + 5.18	 2
13	Maclean Alejandro	ESP	  15.95	  34.45	  54.27	Run 2	1:16.42	 + 5.39	 0
14	Rakhmanin Sergey	RUS	  15.80	  34.33	  55.00	Run 2	1:18.08	 + 7.05	 0
15	McLeod Pete	CAN	  15.50	  34.02	  53.99	Run 3	1:18.30	 + 7.27	 2

Results: Fourth Training

Source: Red Bull Air Race

Rank	Name	Nation	Int. 1	Int. 2	Int. 3	Time	Diff.	Pen
1	Arch Hannes	AUT	  14.96	  31.47	  50.26	1:11.13	Â	 0
2	Ivanoff Nicolas	FRA	  15.49	  32.78	  51.87	1:13.46	 + 2.33	 0
3	Goulian Michael	USA	  15.18	  32.85	  51.80	1:13.53	 + 2.40	 0
4	Dolderer Matthias	GER	  15.75	  33.17	  54.19	1:15.37	 + 4.24	 0
5	Bonhomme Paul	GBR	  15.60	  33.38	  54.45	1:16.39	 + 5.26	 2
6	Maclean Alejandro	ESP	  15.66	  33.66	  53.66	1:16.51	 + 5.38	 0
7	Lamb Nigel	GBR	  15.59	  33.82	  53.79	1:18.70	 + 7.57	 2
8	Dell Glen	RSA	  16.04	  38.75	  1:01.18	1:24.99	 + 13.86	 8
9	McLeod Pete	CAN	  18.45	  37.58	  1:07.35	1:30.46	 + 19.33	 10
10	Hall Matt	AUS	Â	Â	Â	DSQ	Â	Â
11	Mangold Mike	USA	Â	Â	Â	DSQ	Â	Â
12	Besenyei Peter	HUN	  15.38	  32.83	Â	DSQ	Â	Â
13	Muroya Yoshihide	JPN	  17.98	  36.19	Â	DSQ	Â	Â
14	Rakhmanin Sergey	RUS	Â	Â	Â	DNS	Â	Â
15	Chambliss Kirby	USA	Â	Â	Â	DNS	Â	Â

Start List Qualification Wednesday August 19

Order	Bib#	Name	Nation	Aircraft
1	4	Chambliss Kirby	USA	Edge 540
2	18	Rakhmanin Sergey	RUS	MXS
3	31	Muroya Yoshihide	JPN	Edge 540
4	5	Besenyei Peter	HUN	MXS
5	11	Mangold Mike	USA	Edge 540
6	95	Hall Matt	AUS	MXS
7	84	McLeod Pete	CAN	Edge 540
8	45	Dell Glen	RSA	Edge 540
9	9	Lamb Nigel	GBR	MXS
10	36	Maclean Alejandro	ESP	MXS
11	55	Bonhomme Paul	GBR	Edge 540
12	21	Dolderer Matthias	GER	Edge 540
13	99	Goulian Michael	USA	Edge 540
14	27	Ivanoff Nicolas	FRA	Edge 540
15	28	Arch Hannes	AUT	Edge 540