South African pilot Glen Dell was the 2008 Red Bull Air Race rookie who battled throughout the season as he became accustomed to the challenging race format. His first season certainly provided him with plenty of valuable lessons he can apply as he prepares to make his mark this year. Dell predicts 2009 will be even tougher for the next wave of newcomers as the pilots and their teams take things up another notch. “It’s going to be, without doubt, the most exciting season yet,” says the Edge 540 pilot. “This is a highly focused, extremely competitive international motorsport.”

Although Dell isn’t giving away any hot tips for 2009, he emphasises the fact that the gap in times between the top pilots and those lower down in the standings is getting smaller every year – meaning the tiniest fraction of a second can be the difference between winning and losing the championship. “I think unless any one team comes up with some technologically profound improvement, the playing field will be very level,” he says. “Then it’s down to which pilot finds the correct lines in the track and has the ability to fly them.”

Despite finishing the season without scoring a single World Championship point, the former World Advanced Aerobatic Champion is confident he can improve this year. Before the race season kicks off, Dell will be getting as much pre-season flying practice in his Edge as he can manage, in a bid to improve his chances of success.

“The two most difficult things for me last year were lack of experience in the track and in the aircraft,” he explains. “As the season progressed this improved but I would say that by Perth I still had less experience in both the plane and the track than I would have wished for. Doing plenty of pre-season flying will help me become au fait with the aircraft and to learn its vast abilities and some of its intricacies.”