The 2016 Red Bull Air Race World Championship was the eleventh Red Bull Air Race World Championship series.
Aircraft and pilots
Master Class Team Pilot Aircraft Rounds Cristian Bolton Racing 5 Cristian Bolton Zivko Edge 540 V2 7–8 Team Sonka 8 Martin Šonka Zivko Edge 540 V3 All Breitling Racing Team 9 Nigel Lamb MX Aircraft MXS-R All 11 Mikaël Brageot Master Mentoring Program 12 François Le Vot Zivko Edge 540 V2 All Team Chambliss 10 Kirby Chambliss Zivko Edge 540 V3 All Team Spielberg 18 Petr Kopfstein Zivko Edge 540 V3 All Matthias Dolderer Racing 21 Matthias Dolderer Zivko Edge 540 V3 All Hannes Arch Racing 22 22 Hannes Arch Zivko Edge 540 V3 1–6 Team Velarde 26 Juan Velarde Zivko Edge 540 V2 All Team Hamilton 27 Nicolas Ivanoff Zivko Edge 540 V2 All Team Falken 31 Yoshihide Muroya Zivko Edge 540 V3 All Peter Podlunšek Racing 37 Peter Podlunšek Zivko Edge 540 V2 All Team Garmin 84 Pete McLeod Zivko Edge 540 V3 All Matt Hall Racing 95 Matt Hall MX Aircraft MXS-R 1–7 Team Goulian 99 Michael Goulian Zivko Edge 540 V2 All
Pilot changes Reigning champion Paul Bonhomme and inaugural champion Péter Besenyei retired from the sport following the final round of the 2015 season. Petr Kopfstein and Peter Podlunšek made their debuts in the Master Class, having finished equal 1st and 5th respectively in the previous years' Challenger Class standings.
Mid-season changes Cristian Bolton stepped up to the Master Class following the death of Hannes Arch before the Indianapolis round of the series.
Challenger Class All Challenger Cup Pilots used an Extra 330LX. Pilot Rounds 33 Mélanie Astles 2–8 77 Francis Barros 1–3 62 Florian Bergér 1–2, 4–6, 8 5 Cristian Bolton 1–5 48 Kevin Coleman 1–3, 5–8 6 Luke Czepiela 1, 3–4, 6–8 24 Ben Murphy 1, 3–8 17 Daniel Ryfa 1–2, 4–6, 8
Pilot changes Mélanie Astles, Kevin Coleman, Luke Czepiela and Ben Murphy will make their debuts in the Challenger Class. Astles will become the first female pilot to compete in a Red Bull Air Race event.
Race calendar and results The eight-event calendar for the 2016 season was announced on 16 December 2015. Round Country Location Date Fastest Qualifying Winning Pilot Winning Aircraft Winning Challenger Report 1 Abu Dhabi 11–12 March Matt Hall Nicolas Ivanoff Zivko Edge 540 Daniel Ryfa report 2 Red Bull Ring, Spielberg 23–24 April Juan Velarde Matthias Dolderer Zivko Edge 540 Florian Bergér report 3 Makuhari, Chiba 4–5 June cancelled Yoshihide Muroya Zivko Edge 540 Cristian Bolton report 4 Budapest 16–17 July cancelled Matthias Dolderer Zivko Edge 540 Daniel Ryfa report 5 Ascot Racecourse, Ascot 13–14 August Matthias Dolderer Matt Hall MX Aircraft MXS Kevin Coleman report 6 Lausitzring, Klettwitz 3–4 September Nigel Lamb Matt Hall MX Aircraft MXS Florian Bergér report 7 Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Indiana 1–2 October Yoshihide Muroya Matthias Dolderer Zivko Edge 540 Luke Czepiela report 8 Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Las Vegas 15–16 October cancelled due to high winds report
Championship standings Master Class Master Class scoring system Position 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11–14th Points 15 12 9 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 Pilot ABU SPE CHI BUD** ASC LAU IND LVG Points 1 Matthias Dolderer 2 1 8 1 2 2 1 C 80.25 2 Matt Hall 9 5 7 3 1 1 4 55.75 3 Hannes Arch † EX * 2 6 2 3 5 41 4 Nigel Lamb 11 3 4 6 6 10 2 C 37.75 5 Nicolas Ivanoff 1 7 DNS 7 7 7 6 C 35 6 Yoshihide Muroya 8 13 1 5 8 14 5 C 31.5 7 Martin Šonka DSQ 9 2 13 5 4 7 C 31 8 Pete McLeod 7 4 12 9 13 3 3 C 30.5 9 Kirby Chambliss 5 6 3 4 9 8 DSQ C 30.25 10 Michael Goulian 6 10 13 10 4 6 10 C 19.75 11 Juan Velarde 10 14 5 8 11 9 8 C 14.25 12 François Le Vot 3 12 10 14 12 12 12 C 10 13 Peter Podlunšek 12 8 11 11 10 13 11 C 4 14 Petr Kopfstein 13 11 9 12 14 11 9 C 4 15 Cristian Bolton 13 C 0 Pilot ABU SPE CHI BUD ASC LAU IND LVG PointsBold – Fastest Qualifying Pilot * Arch finished 4th but was later excluded from the results; thus the points for 4th place were not awarded to any pilot. ** The final four wasn't held because of bad weather, 75% of points were awarded for this situation.
Challenger Class Challenger Class scoring system Position 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th Points 10 8 6 4 2 0 Pilot ABU SPE CHI BUD ASC LAU IND LVG Points 1 Florian Bergér 3 1 4 2 1 C 10 28 2 Daniel Ryfa 1 3 1 5 4 C 6 26 3 Kevin Coleman 2 2 2 1 6 4 C 12 26 4 Luke Czepiela 5 3 3 2 1 C 14 26 5 Cristian Bolton 4 1 6 3 20 6 Ben Murphy 4 5 2 6 3 3 C 6 20 7 Mélanie Astles 6 4 5 4 5 2 C 4 16 8 Francis Barros DSQ 5 6 2 Pilot ABU SPE CHI BUD ASC LAU IND LVG Points
References
External links