Austria’s Hannes Arch came from behind to beat defending champion Paul Bonhomme in a riveting final in the second stop of the eight-leg Red Bull Air Race World Championship on Sunday in Croatia. Arch was trailing the Brit at the midway point of the final round by 0.23 seconds but opened the throttle with a blistering second lap on the obstacle course set up on the Adriatic Sea to get his eighth career victory. Japan’s Yoshihide Muroya got the first podium of his career, taking third place on a challenging course in the bay off Rovinj that was made even more difficult when the winds coming from the south shifted from the west.
Cheered on by thousands of fans from nearby Austria, Arch also became the sentimental favorite of the local Croatian fans, who were savoring the country’s first Red Bull Air Race. The Austrian had a flawless run in the final, stopping the clock in 59.012 seconds — ahead of Bonhomme’s 59.097. They have 21 points each in the World Championship standings.
“It’s really special,” said Arch, who felt lifted by a surge of support this weekend from the big crowd in Rovinj, a stunning town on a peninsula known as the blue pearl of the Adriatic. “When I heard I was first I had tears in my eyes because of all the emotions and the release of the pressure. It was so difficult here.”
Leading up to the Air Race, Pitch were busy securing media places at the event, where the journalists got to experience first-hand what it is like to fly in the Air Race planes – including loop the loops – before watching the live event. Brave souls indeed…
