RED BULL AIR RACE (VARIOUS LOCATIONS) - SMOKE ON!

Smoke On! The third season of the Red Bull Air Race World Series got underway on April 6th in Abu Dhabi. Ten instead of the previous eight races, fourteen instead of eleven pilots and an elimination format are lifting the competition between the best aerobatic pilots in the world to a new level in 2007. The third season of the Red Bull Air Race World Series got underway on April 6th in Abu Dhabi. Ten instead of the previous eight races, fourteen instead of eleven pilots and an elimination format are lifting the competition between the best aerobatic pilots in the world to a new level in 2007. A Half Cuban Eight on the shores of Botaguogo beach at the foot of the Sugarloaf, a looping between the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau peaks, or a catapult start from an aircraft-carrier in San Diego – the 2007 Red Bull Air Race World Series will offer spectators many new attractions. Following the season’s start in Dubai, Rio de Janeiro is the next stop and the first new location in the series. Overall, ten instead of the previous eight races will be flown in four continents before November. A New System In order to make the races even more exciting and spectacular for the spectators there is also a rule change in 2007. The races will now have an elimination format. The twelve fastest pilots will be determined in the qualifying round the day before the race. The race begins with an elimination, in which not only the eight quarter-finalists but also the pairings for the knock-out competition will be determined – the fastest in the elimination meets the eighth, the second meets the seventh and so on. The fastest in each duel makes it to the semi-final. The two remaining unbeaten pilots will then confront each other in their fourth flight of the day. Three Rookies Also new in 2007 is the number of participating pilots: for the first time there will be fourteen instead of eleven aerobatic pilots. Six pilots fought for the new cockpit positions in October 2006 in the Arizona desert. Three of these Air Race rookies qualified and will now be challenging the established pilots. Austria’s Hannes Arch is joining the Air Race circus as current aerobatics European Champion, the South African Glen Dell is swapping the cockpit of an Airbus A340 for an aerobatics aircraft, and with Sergei Rakhmanin, a Russian “Honoured Master of Sport” is also taking part for the first time.