Austrian Hannes Arch won the Perth round of the Red Bull Air Race over the weekend of April 17-18, while Australian Matt Hall put in a great effort to come in second place.
Less than one second separated Arch and Hall, with the Austrian recording a time of 1:26.03 in his final run, just ahead of Hall’s 1:26.51, which was his best performance of the week. Briton Paul Bonhomme came in third place with a time of 1:26.82.
“This is definitely the way we’re going forward,” said Arch. “Everything starts with vision and this was my vision. I was really struggling during the week. Should I attack or should I just slow down? I’m very pleased.”
Hall was pleased with his result, which is now his highest placing following a third place in Porto last year as a rookie. “I’ve been aiming for that for over a year. The Perth race was always going to be my focus. This is what I’ve been looking forward to since I started in the Red Bull Air Race – a great performance in front of my home crowd in Australia.”
Bonhomme retains the overall championship lead with 22 points after the first two races of the 2010 season. Nigel Lamb of Britain, who was fourth on Sunday, is in second place on 18 points. Arch jumps into third place overall with 14 points and Hall moves up to fourth, also on 14 points.
The next round of the Red Bull Air Race will be held in Rio de Janeiro on May 8-9.
