Besenyei honoured by Red Bull Air Race
At the end of 2015, after 10 seasons of competition, Besenyei retired from the sport to spend more time with his family and to fly air shows. On Saturday in Budapest, his home race, the Hungarian legend was honoured at the Qualifying Day Press Conference.
Erich Wolf, the General Manager of the Red Bull Air Race presented Besenyei with a one-off custom made book full of highlights from his career along with signatures and well wishes from all his friends in the Red Bull Air Race.
"A new period started when Peter set up the foundation for this sport," said Wolf. "After the break in 2010, when we talked about bringing the series back for 2014, Peter was one of my first contacts and talking about the future of the Red Bull Air Race he was immediately ready to share his thoughts. I didn't always agree with him, but this is good, because if you go with someone that has the same opinion you have then it's not good for the development of the sport," he added.
As Wolf handed over the spectacular coffee book, he said to Besenyei: "I want to thank you for all that you did for the Red Bull Air Race and I hope you are going to fly a lot of air shows in the future and I wish you the best."
When Besenyei was given the book he spoke about his decision to retire at the end of 2015. "I stopped racing last year, it wasn't an easy decision and I had been thinking about it for two years. I've been competing in aviation for 40 years and I had to say stop. I miss the guys, the pilots – my friends. And I miss flying in the track. I was able to fly in the track three times on Thursday and I was super, super happy."
He was also keen to thank the organisation and everyone that was part of it.
"The Red Bull Air Race in the last 14 years gave me so much. It was a really nice period I will never forget. My heart will always beat for the Red Bull Air Race. It's a great event with a great future. Thanks to Red Bull for giving us the chance to create this sport and for me to be part of it. Thank you to all the fans and all the guys that work on it," he said.
Thank you, Peter. Thank you.