Britain’s Paul Bonhomme and Nigel Lamb will try to narrow the gap to Red Bull Air Race World Championship leader Hannes Arch of Austria at the first race in Britain since 2008 when the world’s fastest motorsport series makes its return to the United Kingdom with an eagerly awaited stop at the famous Ascot thoroughbred horse race track outside of London on August 16-17. Arch leads the eight-race championship at the mid-way point by 13 points after getting his second victory of the season in Gdynia, Poland in July but Bonhomme (second place) and Lamb (third place) are still in the thick of the title battle with four races remaining in 2014.

Defending champion Bonhomme won the season opener in Abu Dhabi but he has been plagued by misfortune in the last two races with successive fifth. Lamb has been in the form of his life with his first career victory in Putrajaya, Malaysia and a close second to Arch in Gdynia. Red-hot Lamb has 26 championship points and has as many points as Arch from the last two races – 21 – after Lamb beat the Austrian in Putrajaya. Both Bonhomme and Lamb are counting on home support at the Ascot Racecourse that is associated with Britain’s Royal Family in the wooded countryside near their Windsor Castle.

Ascot will be a special homecoming for Bonhomme, who has raced with the number 55. It will be the fifth of the 55 Red Bull Air Races since 2003 staged in Britain.

The Red Bull Air Race World Championship features 12 of the world’s best race pilots in a motor sport competition that combines speed, precision and skill as pilots navigate a low-level aerial track made up of air-filled pylons 25 meters high at speeds of up to 370 km/h.

RedBull Airrace.com press release