Red Bull Air Race 2016

Red Bull Air Race World Championship
2016
Champions master Matthias Dolderer Challenger Florian Bergér
timeline
⇐ 2015	2017 ⇒

Abu Dhabi Spielberg Chiba Budapest Ascot Lausitz Indianapolis Las Vegas

Venues of the Red Bull Air Race 2016

The Red Bull Air Race 2016 World Championship was the 11th season of a series of air races organized by Red Bull Air Race GmbH . Eight races were held in the 2016 racing season. The stations were Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates), Spielberg (Austria), Chiba (Japan), Budapest (Hungary), Ascot (Great Britain), Lausitzring (Germany), Indianapolis (USA) and Las Vegas (USA).

Air Race Pilots 2016

Master Class

No.	pilot	origin	plane
05	Cristian Bolton	Chile	Zivko Edge 540 V2
08th	Martin Šonka	Czech Republic	Zivko Edge 540 V3
09	Nigel Lamb	United Kingdom	MXS-R
10	Kirby Chambliss	United States	Zivko Edge 540 V3
11	Mikaël Brageot	France	Master Mentoring Program
12	François Le Vot	France	Zivko Edge 540 V2
18th	Petr headstone	Czech Republic	Zivko Edge 540 V3
21st	Matthias Dolderer	Germany	Zivko Edge 540 V3
22nd	Hannes Arch 1	Austria	Zivko Edge 540 V3
26th	Juan Velarde	Spain	Zivko Edge 540 V2
27	Nicolas Ivanoff	France	Zivko Edge 540 V2
31	Yoshihide Muroya	Japan	Zivko Edge 540 V3
37	Peter Podlunšek	Slovenia	Zivko Edge 540 V2
84	Pete McLeod	Canada	Zivko Edge 540 V3
95	Matt Hall	Australia	MXS-R
99	Michael Goulian	United States	Zivko Edge 540 V2

¹Hannes Arch had a fatal accident during a helicopter flight in the Großglockner area , Carinthia , on the night of September 8th to 9th, 2016 .

Pilot change

• The reigning champion Paul Bonhomme and the first champion Péter Besenyei are eliminated from the series after the last race of the 2015 season.
• Mikaël Brageot introduced another new component of the Red Bull Air Race in 2016: the Master Mentoring Program. Instead of participating in competitions, world champion Nigel Lamb and the Breitling Racing Team took him under their wing.
• Cristian Bolton was a standby pilot in the 2016 Master Class season and had his maiden flights after the Hannes Arch accident in the starting field of the World Championship at the last two races in Indianapolis and Las Vegas. In 2017 he was then appointed to the Master Class as a permanent pilot.
• Petr Kopfstein and Peter Podlunšek make their debut in the Master Class. In the past 2015 season, Kopfstein won two races in the Challenger Class and came second twice. Because of this and his extraordinary performances, he has now received the coveted "Unrestricted Superlicense" and the invitation to the Master Class. Podlunšek was second in the Challenger Class 2015 and was on the podium three times. After the 2015 season, Podlunšek brought the Unrestricted Superlicence under one roof and was thus able to start in the Master Class for the first time in 2016.

Challenger Class

• The "standard" machine for all Challenger Cup pilots was the Extra 330LX .

No.	pilot	origin
05	Cristian Bolton	Chile
06th	Luke Czepiela	Poland
17th	Daniel Ryfa	Sweden
24	Ben Murphy	United Kingdom
33	Mélanie Astles	France
48	Kevin Coleman	United States
62	Florian Bergér	Germany
77	Francis Barros	Brazil

Pilot change

• Mélanie Astles, Kevin Coleman and Ben Murphy make their debut in the Challenger Class. Astles is the first female pilot to start in this racing series. Luke Czepiela is returning to competition after taking a break last season.

Racing calendar

No.	date	run	Qualifying winner	winner	Second	Third	Overall leader	Winner Challenger
01	11./12. February	Abu Dhabi	Matt Hall	Nicolas Ivanoff	Matthias Dolderer	Francois Le Vot	Nicolas Ivanoff	Daniel Ryfa
02	23/24 April	Spielberg	Juan Velarde	Matthias Dolderer	Hannes Arch	Nigel Lamb	Matthias Dolderer	Florian Bergér
03	4th / 5th June	Chiba	called off	Yoshihide Muroya	Martin Šonka	Kirby Chambliss	Matthias Dolderer	Cristian Bolton
04th	16./17. July	Budapest	called off	Matthias Dolderer	Kirby Chambliss	Nicolas Ivanoff	Matthias Dolderer	Daniel Ryfa
05	13./14. August	Ascot	Matthias Dolderer	Matt Hall	Matthias Dolderer	Hannes Arch	Matthias Dolderer	Kevin Coleman
06th	3rd / 4th September	Germany	Nigel Lamb	Matt Hall	Matthias Dolderer	Pete McLeod	Matthias Dolderer	Florian Bergér
07th	1./2. October	Indianapolis	Yoshihide Muroya	Matthias Dolderer	Nigel Lamb	Pete McLeod	Matthias Dolderer	Luke Czepiela
08th	15./16. October	Las Vegas	canceled due to strong wind

championship

Master Class

Item	pilot	Abu Dhabi	Spielberg	Chiba	1 Budapest	Ascot	Lausitz	Indianapolis	Las Vegas	Points
1	Matthias Dolderer	2	1	8th	1	2	2	1	CAN	80.25
2	Matt Hall	9	5	7th	3	1	1	4th		55.75
3	Hannes Arch †	DSQ 2	2	6th	2	3	5			41
4th	Nigel Lamb	11	3	4th	6th	6th	10	2		37.75
5	Nicolas Ivanoff	1	7th	DNS	7th	7th	7th	6th		35
6th	Yoshihide Muroya	8th	13	1	5	8th	14th	5		31.5
7th	Martin Šonka	DSQ	9	2	13	5	4th	7th		31
8th	Pete McLeod	7th	4th	12	9	13	3	3		30.5
9	Kirby Chambliss	5	6th	3	4th	9	8th	DSQ		30.25
10	Michael Goulian	6th	10	13	10	4th	6th	10		19.75
11	Juan Velarde	10	14th	5	8th	11	9	8th		14.25
12	François Le Vot	3	12	10	14th	12	12	12		10
13	Peter Podlunšek	12	8th	11	11	10	13	11		4th
14th	Petr headstone	13	11	9	12	14th	11	9		4th
15th	Cristian Bolton							13		0

( Legend: DNP = did not take part; DNS = did not start; DSQ = disqualified; CAN = canceled; bold = fastest pilot in qualifying)

¹Due to atypical weather conditions for this time of year, Final 4 could not be held on race day in Budapest. Accordingly, 75% of the times of the Round of 8 were used for the final result.

² Arch took fourth place, but was subsequently disqualified for crossing the safety line, so the points for fourth place were not awarded to any pilot.

Point system

placement	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11	12	13	14th
Points	15th	12	9	7th	6th	5	4th	3	2	1	0
colour	gold	silver	bronze	green							blue

Challenger Class

Item	pilot	Abu Dhabi	Spielberg	Chiba	Budapest	Ascot	Lausitz	Indianapolis	Las Vegas	Points deleted	Points
1	Florian Bergér	3	1		4th	2	1		CAN	10	28
2	Daniel Ryfa	1	3		1	5	4th			6th	26th
3	Kevin Coleman	2	2	2		1	6th	4th		12	26th
4th	Luke Czepiela	5		3	3	2	2	1		14th	26th
5	Cristian Bolton		4th	1	6th	3					20th
6th	Ben Murphy	4th		5	2	6th	3	3		6th	20th
7th	Mélanie Astles		6th	4th	5	4th	5	2		4th	16
8th	Francis Barros	DSQ 1	5	6th							2

( Legend: DNP = did not participate; DNS = did not start; DSQ = disqualified; CAN = canceled)

¹ Francis Barros was disqualified for crossing the safety line.

Point system

placement	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th
Points	10	8th	6th	4th	2	0
colour	gold	silver	bronze	green		blue

Web links

Commons : Red Bull Air Race Series  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Red Bull Air Race (Official Homepage)
• Red Bull Air Race 2016 channel on YouTube

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Hannes Arch dies in a helicopter crash orf.at, September 9, 2016, accessed September 9, 2016.
2. ↑ Red Bull Air Race: Bonhomme resigns at the peak | Red Bull Air Race . In: Red Bull Air Race . ( redbull.com [accessed February 24, 2018]).
3. ↑ Red Bull Air Race: Besenyei says goodbye to the Red Bull Air Race | Red Bull Air Race . In: Red Bull Air Race . ( redbull.com [accessed February 24, 2018]).
4. ↑ Chilean replaces Hannes Arch . In: GMX News . ( gmx.at [accessed on February 24, 2018]).
5. ↑ Red Bull Air Race: The debut of the newcomers in the Master Class | Red Bull Air Race . In: Red Bull Air Race . ( redbull.com [accessed March 26, 2018]).
6. ↑ Aviation: Mélanie Astles is the only female pilot in the Red Bull Air Race. September 28, 2016, accessed February 25, 2018 . 
7. ↑ Melanie Astles, the mistress in lofty heights . In: The press . ( diepresse.com [accessed February 25, 2018]).
8. ↑ Red Bull Air Race: Abu Dhabi 2016: Challenger Cup Preview | Red Bull Air Race . In: Red Bull Air Race . ( redbull.com [accessed February 25, 2018]).
9. ↑ Red Bull Air Race: Dolderer unstoppable in Budapest | Red Bull Air Race . In: Red Bull Air Race . ( redbull.com [accessed February 25, 2018]).
10. ↑ Red Bull Air Race: Ivanoff wins wild season opener in Abu Dhabi | Red Bull Air Race . In: Red Bull Air Race . ( redbull.com [accessed February 25, 2018]).
11. ↑ Red Bull Air Race: Ryfa triumphs at the season opener in the Challenger Cup in Abu Dhabi | Red Bull Air Race . In: Red Bull Air Race . ( redbull.com [accessed February 25, 2018]).