ABU DHABI (UAE) – Britain’s Paul Bonhomme won the 2014 Red Bull Air Race World Championship season opener in Abu Dhabi on Saturday with a clutch performance in a pressure-packed finale ahead of his perennial rival Austria’s Hannes Arch in second and Canada’s Pete McLeod in third.

The defending champion had fallen behind both red-hot McLeod, who got a career-first podium, and his old nemesis Arch in the penultimate round of the high-speed, low-altitude racing over the turquoise waters of the Arabian Gulf but managed to fly nearly two seconds faster in the final round with the day’s best time – 56.439 seconds with Arch a blink of an eye behind in 56.776. It was a fittingly thrill-filled start to the 2014 season of the world’s fastest motorsport series.

“There was huge pressure out there and it was so much work to get back here,” said Bonhomme, who won the 2009 and 2010 championship ahead of Arch. But both were worried that rule changes, such as the introduction of standardized engines for all 12 pilots, would make the field more competitive and that is exactly what happened with McLeod, Matt Hall of Australia and Nigel Lamb of Britain, and Martin Sonka of the Czech Republic all flying within a second of each other in Friday’s Qualifying session.

Top 12

Heat 1
Nicolas Ivanoff	FRA	00:58.799
Martin Sonka	CZE	00:59.573

 

Heat 2
Matt Hall	AUS	00:58.669
Kirby Chambliss	USA	1:01.009 (+2)

 

Heat 3
Yoshihide Muroya	JPN	00:59.813
Hannes Arch	AUT	00:57.267

 

Heat 4
Matthias Dolderer	GER	00:58:500
Nigel Lamb	GBR	00:57:843

 

Heat 5
Michael Goulian	USA	DNS
Paul Bonhomme	GBR	00:57.978

 

Heat 6
Peter Besenyei	HUN	01:00.909
Pete McLeod	CAN	00:58.784

Super 8

Rank	Pilot	Nation	Time
1	Pete McLeod	CAN	00:56.710
2	Hannes Arch	AUT	00:56.869
3	Paul Bonhomme	GBR	00:58.018
4	Matt Hall	AUS	00:58.028
5	Nigel Lamb	GBR	00:58.694
6	Matthias Dolderer	GER	00:58.697
7	Martin Sonka	CZE	00:58.913
8	Nicolas Ivanoff	FRA	00:59.150

Final 4

Rank	Pilot	Nation	Time
1	Paul Bonhomme	GBR	00:56.4392
2	Hannes Arch	AUT	00:56.776
3	Pete McLeod	CAN	00:57.057
4	Matt Hall	AUS	00:49.426 (DNF)

 

Abu Dhabi Race & World Championship Standings 2014

Rank	Pilot	Nation	Round	Points
1	Paul Bonhomme	GBR	F4	12
2	Hannes Arch	AUT	F4	9
3	Pete McLeod	CAN	F4	7
4	Matt Hall	AUS	F4	5
5	Nigel Lamb	GBR	S8	4
6	Matthias Dolderer	GER	S8	3
7	Martin Sonka	CZE	S8	2
8	Nicolas Ivanoff	FRA	S8	1
9	Yoshihide Muroya	JPN	T12	0
10	Peter Besenyei	HUN	T12	0
11	Kirby Chambliss	USA	T12	0
12	Michael Goulian	USA	T12	0

Source and pictures: www.redbullairrace.com