Fellow Brit Nigel Lamb took second place between the Statue of Liberty and Lower Manhattan, while American Kirby Chambliss achieved his second straight podium with third place.
It's a very good result and what a setting!
Bonhomme, the defending World Champion, prevailed in front of a crowd of 75,000 spectators, watching from both sides of the Hudson River. Bonhomme has finished behind the Austrian pilot Hannes Arch for the last three races and was desperate to get back on top after the Team Abu Dhabi pilot cut his lead in the Championship to just one point. Arch pushed Bonhomme to his limits but saw his three-race winning streak shattered in dramatic fashion, when he hit a pylon in the final 4, ending any hope of a podium finish.
Bonhomme stopped the clock at 1:10.01, the day's fastest time on the 5.5km track. Bonhomme had been the epitome of consistency with times of 1:10.09 in the Top 12 round and 1:10.07 in the Super 8 before lowering the mark again to 1:10.01 in the final. That was a full 2.05 seconds faster than Lamb and 2.08 faster than Chambliss. Arch was 5.34 back - hurt by the six-second penalty for hitting the pylon.
Australian pilot Matt Hall, who was not permitted to compete after the race committee imposed sanctions following his mishap in Windsor, gave a lengthy interview to the crowd of spectators. Hall said it felt strange to be watching the race with his family from the exclusive High Flyers Lounge. "It's not a normal environment for me to be sitting here watching the race. So it's actually not a bad deal, as far as deals go." Hall said he was pleased to get some training time in on the track on Friday. "I've analysed everything since then. We've changed the set up of the aircraft in an effort to reduce any risk of that ever happening again. We're on the right track."
It was Bonhomme’s 12th straight podium – a new record in the sport - and he now leads the Championship with 53 points while rival Hannes Arch is in second with 48 points. Team Breitling’s Nigel Lamb is in third with 47 and Chambliss has 35 points. “It's a very good result and what a setting!” Bonhomme said. “I can appreciate the view now that I’ve finished racing. I concentrated on myself, my airplane and the track. And now I think we can celebrate a bit.”
Arch was gracious in his defeat on the biggest stage in the 49-race history of the Red Bull Air Race, a city where organisers have always dreamt of staging a race since the motorsport was launched in 2003. It has been a FAI recognized World Championship competition since 2005. Arch said he pulled out the stops to try to beat Bonhomme and achieve what would have been a record fourth straight victory but instead hit the Air Gate.“It was a good run,” said Arch, the 2008 Champion. “It was just a couple of centimetres that made the difference. I would rather lose here like that, than completely screw it up. So I think those guys in front of me owe me a beer.”
New York was the fifth race in the eight-race Championship. The next race of the Red Bull World Championship touches down in Lausitz, Germany on 7-8 August.
For further information, please visit www.redbullairrace.com
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