2015 Red Bull Air Race World Championship
# 2015 Red Bull Air Race World Championship

The 2015 Red Bull Air Race World Championship was the tenth Red Bull Air Race World Championship series, contested over eight events in seven countries held between February and October.

British pilot Paul Bonhomme won his third world title by five points, after winning half of the eight races. His closest challenger was Australian pilot Matt Hall, and the pair finished well clear at the top of the championship. Bonhomme won the opening two races of the season in Abu Dhabi and Chiba, before an eighth-place finish – his worst result of the season – in Rovinj, saw Hall tie his points tally with three podium finishes. After Austria's Hannes Arch won in Rovinj and Budapest, Bonhomme and Hall shared the remaining victories between them; Bonhomme won at Ascot and Fort Worth, while Hall took his first Air Race victories at the Red Bull Ring and Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Arch completed the championship podium, some 42 points in arrears of Bonhomme.

The series also maintained the Challenger Cup format that was introduced for the 2014 season, for young pilots to develop their skills. Each pilot entered at least five races in order to accrue points towards the Cup rankings, with the top six pilots after the Fort Worth event being invited to a winner-takes-all event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Mikaël Brageot of France – who had topped the Cup rankings – won the race by 0.035 seconds over Peter Podlunšek, to take the title.

## Aircraft and pilots

### Master Class

| No. | Pilot | Aircraft | Rounds |
| - | - | - | - |
| 22 | Hannes Arch | Zivko Edge 540 | All |
| 91 | Péter Besenyei | Corvus Racer 540 | 1–3 |
| 91 | Péter Besenyei | Zivko Edge 540 | 4–8 |
| 55 | Paul Bonhomme | Zivko Edge 540 | All |
| 10 | Kirby Chambliss | Zivko Edge 540 | All |
| 21 | Matthias Dolderer | Zivko Edge 540 | All |
| 99 | Michael Goulian | Zivko Edge 540 | All |
| 95 | Matt Hall | MX Aircraft MXS | All |
| 27 | Nicolas Ivanoff | Zivko Edge 540 | All |
| 9 | Nigel Lamb | MX Aircraft MXS | All |
| 12 | François Le Vot | Zivko Edge 540 | All |
| 84 | Pete McLeod | Zivko Edge 540 | All |
| 31 | Yoshihide Muroya | Zivko Edge 540 | All |
| 8 | Martin Šonka | Zivko Edge 540 | All |
| 26 | Juan Velarde | Zivko Edge 540 | All |

**Entering**

* Challenger Class competitors François Le Vot and Juan Velarde, who were fourth and eighth respectively in 2014, joined the Master Class.

### Challenger Class

* All Challenger Cup Pilots used an Extra 330LX.

| No. | Pilot | Rounds |
| - | - | - |
| 77 | Francis Barros | 1–3, 5–7 |
| 62 | Florian Bergér | 1–2, 4–8 |
| 5 | Cristian Bolton | 1–5, 7–8 |
| 11 | Mikaël Brageot | 1, 3–4, 6–8 |
| 18 | Petr Kopfstein | 1–2, 4–8 |
| 37 | Peter Podlunšek | 2–8 |
| 17 | Daniel Ryfa | 1–6, 8 |

## Race calendar and results

The eight-event calendar for the 2015 season was announced on 25 November 2014. An updated race calendar was released on 3 March 2015, which dropped the round in Sochi, Russia and the round in Rovinj, Croatia returned to the calendar.

| Round | Country | Location | Date | Fastest Qualifying | Winning Pilot | Winning Aircraft | Winning Challenger | Report |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | United Arab Emirates | Abu Dhabi | 13–14 February | Paul Bonhomme | Paul Bonhomme | Zivko Edge 540 | Cristian Bolton | report |
| 2 | Japan | Makuhari, Chiba | 16–17 May | Nicolas Ivanoff | Paul Bonhomme | Zivko Edge 540 | Petr Kopfstein | report |
| 3 | Croatia | Rovinj | 30–31 May | Paul Bonhomme | Hannes Arch | Zivko Edge 540 | Daniel Ryfa | report |
| 4 | Hungary | Budapest | 4–5 July | Matt Hall | Hannes Arch | Zivko Edge 540 | Daniel Ryfa | report |
| 5 | United Kingdom | Ascot Racecourse, Ascot | 15–16 August | Paul Bonhomme | Paul Bonhomme | Zivko Edge 540 | Petr Kopfstein | report |
| 6 | Austria | Red Bull Ring, Spielberg | 5–6 September | cancelled | Matt Hall | MX Aircraft MXS | Mikaël Brageot | report |
| 7 | United States | Texas Motor Speedway, Fort Worth | 26–27 September | Matthias Dolderer | Paul Bonhomme | Zivko Edge 540 | Mikaël Brageot | report |
| 8 | United States | Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Las Vegas | 17–18 October | Yoshihide Muroya | Matt Hall | MX Aircraft MXS | Mikaël Brageot | report |

## Championship standings

### Master Class

**Master Class scoring system**

| Position | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9–14th |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Points | 12 | 9 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Pos. | Pilot | ABU | CHI | ROV | BUD | ASC | SPE | FTW | LVG | Points |
| 1 | Paul Bonhomme | 1 | 1 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 76 |
| 2 | Matt Hall | 2 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 71 |
| 3 | Hannes Arch | 4 | 11 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 13 | 10 | 5 | 34 |
| 4 | Martin Šonka | 10 | 10 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 29 |
| 5 | Matthias Dolderer | 9 | 3 | 6 | 7 | 10 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 26 |
| 6 | Yoshihide Muroya | 6 | 8 | 10 | 9 | 3 | 10 | 3 | 4 | 23 |
| 7 | Nigel Lamb | 5 | 5 | 5 | 8 | 5 | 12 | 6 | 10 | 20 |
| 8 | Pete McLeod | 3 | 12 | 7 | 4 | 13 | 5 | 8 | 11 | 19 |
| 9 | Nicolas Ivanoff | 8 | 4 | 9 | 14 | 4 | 9 | 7 | 7 | 15 |
| 10 | Michael Goulian | 12 | 6 | 4 | 11 | 9 | 7 | 9 | 6 | 13 |
| 11 | Kirby Chambliss | DNS | 7 | 11 | 10 | 12 | 3 | 11 | 12 | 9 |
| 12 | Péter Besenyei | 7 | 13 | 12 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 12 | 13 | 9 |
| 13 | Juan Velarde | 13 | 9 | 13 | 13 | 11 | 11 | 13 | 9 | 0 |
| 14 | François Le Vot | 11 | 14 | 14 | 12 | 14 | DSQ | 14 | 14 | 0 |
| Pos. | Pilot | ABU | CHI | ROV | BUD | ASC | SPE | FTW | LVG | Points |
| Colour | Result |
| Gold | Winner |
| Silver | Second place |
| Bronze | Third place |
| Green | Points finish |
| Blue | Non-points finish |
| Blue | Non-classified finish (NC) |
| Purple | Retired (Ret) |
| Red | Did not qualify (DNQ) |
| Red | Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ) |
| Black | Disqualified (DSQ) |
| White | Did not start (DNS) |
| White | Withdrew (WD) |
| White | Race cancelled (C) |
| Blank | Did not practice (DNP) |
| Blank | Did not arrive (DNA) |
| Blank | Excluded (EX) |

### Challenger Class

As in 2014, Challenger Class pilots had to compete in at least three races throughout the season, with each pilot's best three scores counting towards the Challenger Cup ranking. The top six pilots in the ranking qualified for a winner-takes-all race at the end of the season.

**Challenger Class scoring system**

| Position | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Points | 10 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 |

**Ranking**

| Pos. | Pilot | ABU | CHI | ROV | BUD | ASC | SPE | FTW | Drop | Points |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Mikaël Brageot | 3 | | 2 | 2 | | 1 | 1 | 14 | 28 |
| 2 | Daniel Ryfa | 5 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | | 14 | 28 |
| 3 | Petr Kopfstein | 2 | 1 | | 4 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 12 | 28 |
| 4 | Cristian Bolton | 1 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 2 | | 4 | 12 | 24 |
| 5 | Peter Podlunšek | | 6 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 8 | 18 |
| 6 | Florian Bergér | 4 | 4 | | 6 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 14 |
| 7 | Francis Barros | DSQ | 5 | 5 | | 6 | 6 | 5 | | 6 |
| Pos. | Pilot | ABU | CHI | ROV | BUD | ASC | SPE | FTW | Drop | Points |

**Final**

At the last race of the season at Las Vegas, the top six pilots in the standings took part in a race to determine the final ranking of the Challenger Cup.

| Rank | Pilots | Time |
| - | - | - |
| 1 | Mikaël Brageot | 1:00.521 |
| 2 | Peter Podlunšek | 1:00.556 |
| 3 | Cristian Bolton | 1:00.920 |
| 4 | Petr Kopfstein | 1:02.117 |
| 5 | Florian Bergér | 1:02.255 |
| 6 | Daniel Ryfa | 1:02.459 |
