Nicolas Ivanoff put on a performance when it really mattered to seal a narrow victory in the Red Bull Air Race opener in Abu Dhabi Saturday as top-ranked Matt Hall made a first-round exit.
The 48-year-old was an outsider for a podium finish going into the knock-out stages at the capital’s Corniche, given the strength of the field. But the Frenchman defied the odds and secured his fifth career triumph – edging Matthias Dolderer by 0.110 seconds in the Final Four.
With Francois Le Vot, Dolderer and 2008 champion Hannes Arch stunning the other 10 pilots in the Round of 14 and Round of 8 stages, to reach the final, it was always going to be an open battle.
That proved to be the case. Le Vot, who never scored a single point in last term’s campaign, set the tone, clocking 1:02:281 despite being penalised with a two-second penalty for incorrect level flying. He was later guaranteed a podium finish after Arch was disqualified for crossing the safety line.
Dolderer seemed to have clinched his first career win when he flew with great rhythm and precision to clock 58.660s.
That put pressure on Ivanoff. But he duly delivered, maintaining high speeds of approximately 350kmph, tackling the two lap course in 58.550s. “It was really nice to win this race,” Ivanoff said. “I’m very happy when I’m in the plane. When it comes down to Race Day, I always want to do three flights, not one. I was relaxed and stuck to my job.”
Congrats to the #AirRace winners @nicolasivanoff 1st, @MD21_racing 2nd and @francoislevot 3rd! #InAbuDhabi pic.twitter.com/jrvcLbM7uS
— Red Bull UAE (@RedBullUAE) March 12, 2016
Dolderer was frustrated to not get his hands on the winning trophy, but paid tribute to his team.
“It was a superb start from me and I worked hard. My team did a lot of work over the winter and they did a great job,” said the German. “It was important to stay calm, remain focused and everything went well during the two days.”
Earlier, there was a massive upset in the Round of 14 stage as last season’s runner-up Hall only had himself to blame for his early elimination. The Australian came into the race in confident mood, having taken pole position on Friday. Up against two-time world champion Kirby Chambliss, he was on course to beat the American’s impressive time of 59.864 but a pylon hit on Gate 10 cost him dearly with a three-second penalty that saw him crash out.
“I relaxed in the second lap as I knew I was on a fast lap and was feeling good. Then coming up to the Gate 3, I started overly concentrating on the crowd line and thinking about it rather than concentrating on the game plan. It was a lapse in concentration, I was too relaxed,” he said.
“It is not an ideal result but the good news is that the plane is fast but we will have to start at the back of the pack for the next seven races. But we will take the positives and go ahead thinking that we can win races.”
