55000 spectators watch Red Bull Air Race on day 1
55,000 spectators attended the Red Bull Air Race World Championship on the first competition day in Kazan. 14 Master Class pilots and 6 Challenger Class pilots compete in the race on August 25-26.
Patrick Davidson, in only his third Red Bull Air Race Challenger Class outing, was close to a second faster than any of his rivals in the Qualifying session in Kazan today. The South African pilot set the track record as he flew through the Finish Gate with a time of 57.437s – the fastest of the weekend for the Challengers. Melanie Astles, who has been improving with every run, came closest to Davidson with a time of 58.399s. Kenny Chiang finished sixth with a time of 1:00.164 – he will want to do better tomorrow as he has fond memories of racing in Kazan as he won here in 2017.
Matthias Dolderer of Germany became the first White Kremlin Cup trophy holder in the history of Red Bull Air Races. The trophy was handed over to the pilot by First Deputy to the Director General of Tatspirtprom, Rinel Nuretdinov, the Tatar-Inform Information Agency reports.
The White Kremlin Cup is a special trophy of the Kazan leg of the Red Bull Air Race Master Class qualifying round. The new trophy was established by the National General Partner of the Tournament, White Kremlin, and National Official Partner, Holy Cup.
Matthias Dolderer was back to his World Championship-winning best today in Qualifying when he set a time of 52.615s. The pilot closest to Dolderer was Michael Goulian who set a really slow first run time of 54.699s, but the American refocused and on his second run was able to shave close to two seconds off his time and he was able to finish just 0.205s behind the German pilot. Juan Velarde who has been consistently quick here in Kazan was third in the timesheet with a 52.969s; he was the last pilot to finish with a sub-53s time. Kirby Chambliss, last year’s winner of the Kazan leg of the Red Bull Air race, showed the eighth best time, losing 1.247 seconds to Dolderer.
Kazan hosts the Red Bull Air Race for the second time. This year the race;s track changed. Unlike last year, when it stretched over the water area along the Kremlin Embankment, now it will have a curved shape and provide a good view from the area adjacent to the Kazan Family Centre and from the area of the Kremlin Embankment located closer to the Kazan Kremlin.
“The pilots enjoyed it – it is a little bit less technical, a little bit faster race,” said Red Bull Air Race Director Jim Dimatteo during the press conference.
“Russia is such an amazing country. It is known as the organizer of many major sporting events. This year the race is held right after the FIFA World Cup. We are happy to be back here as a big aviation family,” he concluded.