Ivanoff Wins Red Bull-San Diego

May 11, 2009 – San Diego, California —Nicolas Ivanoff of France won the second Red Bull Air Race World Championship of the season in San Diego on Sunday while championship leader Hannes Arch of Austria fell to third after a bird strike tore a grapefruit-sized hole in the back of his airplane. Ivanoff clocked the fastest time of the weekend in 1:17.21 in the final, while Britain’s Paul Bonhomme took second place 1.11 seconds behind. Ivanoff’s victory narrowed the championship race considerably after two races with Arch (23 points) still ahead of Ivanoff (21) and Bonhomme (20). Peter Besenyei of Hungary took fourth and Australian rookie Matt Hall was fifth, while Americans Mike Mangold, Kirby Chambliss and Michael Goulian came in seventh, 12th and 14th, respectively. “This is really nice,” said Ivanoff, who threw his fists into the air in celebration after climbing out of his new Edge 540. “The new plane is great. I thought I had a pretty good run in the final but it’s always possible someone else comes up with an even faster time.” It was only the second career victory for Ivanoff, who won the final race of the 2007 season in Perth, Australia. Arch had the speed to win on Sunday and was just ahead of Ivanoff at the first interval. But then a pelican punctured a gaping hole on the back of his plane shortly before the midway point. “I was having a really good run and then I had a bird strike that distracted me,” Arch said after inspecting the blood-covered hole on the right side of his plane’s tail. “I was off line after that. The bird strike nearly tore off my horizontal stabilizer. It was bad luck, but good luck that I was able to fly to the finish line.” More than 100,000 spectators watched the two days of racing in San Diego. The championship now moves north to Windsor, Ontario in Canada on June 13-14 for the third of six races this year.

France’s Nicolas Ivanoff won the Red Bull Air Race in San Diego in Sunday. It was his second Red Bull win, with the last win occurring in Perth, Australia in 2007. Photo courtesy Red Bull Air Race Ivanoff had the best time of the race in the final at 1:17.21. Photo courtesy Red Bull Air Race Hannes Arch’s suffered a bird strike during the competition, which nearly tore off his plane’s horizontal stabilizer. Photo courtesy Red Bull Air Race

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