Red Bull Air Racing

• The first official Red Bull Air Race World Series was launched in 2005 with 7 races around the globe and 10 competing pilots. So the Air Races are rather new. The Race format was already tested in 2003, at the Airpower show in Zeltweg, Austria, in front of several hundred thousand spectators. Developing safe and sturdy pylons that form the gates where pilots have to fly through, seemed to be the biggest challenge. In 2002 the first prototypes were designed and tested, with a cylindrical inflatable pylon as result. Two years later, new cone-shaped Air Gates were introduced. These proved to be far superior to the original cylindrical designs. The cone-shaped pylons are sturdy enough to remain stationary in all weather conditions, including stormy weather and strong winds.

Race Format

• The Red Bull Air Race World Championship revamped its race format in the 2009 season as part of its quest to perfect scoring and also to accommodate the largest expansion ever in the field to 15 pilots from 12 in 2008. The new format features a Qualifying Day with all pilots racing to be one of the ten fastest to take them directly through to the Top 12 session on Race Day. For the first time ever, Qualifying will also be a race for one championship point which will be awarded to the pilot with the best time in Qualifying.

  A Wild Card session will open Race Day with the five slowest from Qualifying getting a second chance by battling it out for the final two spots in the Top 12. The fastest eight from the Top 12 advance to the Super 8 and the four fastest go all-out against the clock in the Final 4 – with the fastest pilot being declared the winner.

  As part of the natural progression of the sport as it enters its fifth championship season, race organisers have also decided to make some adjustments to the scoring system. The race winner collects 12 championship points, second place gets 10 and third 9 points – a system that goes all the way down to 1 point for 11th place. On top of that, this year the winner of the Qualifying session will pick up the one additional championship point, a change that will undoubtedly make Qualifying even more intense for the front-runners than in the past. If, for example, the race winner also wins Qualifying, he would collect a total of 13 points.

Website

• RedBullAirRace.com

Schedule

Video

Most Recent Update
-updated 5.26.2010