Abu Dhabi

Fastest qualifier Czech Republic’s Martin Sonka maintained his form that he has shown all week to clinch his maiden win in the Master Class, clocking 53.139 seconds in the Red Bull Air Race Championship at the Abu Dhabi Corniche yesterday.

Spain’s Juan Velarde, who made it to the final four round for the first time, claimed second 1.0277 seconds behind Sonka, while Canadian Pete McLeod sealed the final position on the podium - piping reigning world champion Germany’s Matthias Dolderer, who had to be content with the fourth spot following a penalty.

Sonka, who made his debut here in the capital in 2002, was disqualified last year but this time he was a clear winner and he attributed his success to sublime flying.

“In the whole race week, we did well except a bit during the training. The plane worked like a perfect machine and I’m super happy,” said an elated Sonka, adding that the victory will do a world of good to his confidence.

“I have finally won a race and that’s a huge plus for the future. I felt very good in my plane and this a different start for me and hopefully, it will be that way for the whole season,” said Sonka, who for his effort now leads the championship standing with 15 points.

“It feels like a victory for me and the whole team. Just to make it through to the Final 4 was a success, to be on the podium is a huge success, and second even more. It’s great to have this result in the first race. Everything is coming together, last season we had very good moments, but we were very inconsistent. I needed to manage the pressure in important times,” said an ecstatic Velarde following his first podium finish.

McLeod was first to take to the skies in the final four and his time of 54.632 seconds was good enough to put the rest of the pack to test. However, Sonka turned on the heat with a quicker time and World Champion Dolderer, who did exceptionally well to claw his way back into reckoning despite a 11th place finish in the qualifying.

The German, however, pushed a bit too hard and paid the prize. On Gate 14 he picked up a penalty for incorrect level flying and finished 0.088s slower than Sonka. Velarde was the last to start his engine and knew exactly what he needed to do to stake claim of the top honours. He gave it everything with a fast and clinical round but just fell short of Sonka’s time. In the round of eight, Dolderer was up against new Master Class Pilot Cristian Bolton and the German brought his experience into play. Dolderer was slow after the first split time but then got his acts together to get past the time of 55.980secs set by the Chilean pilot.

Sonka was up against defending Abu Dhabi champion Nicolas Ivanoff but the latter ended up posting his slowest time of the week in round 8. Sonka was in total control from first split and the time was surpassed with ease. Velarde, who was quickest in the Round of 14, got the better of Francois Le Vot’s time of 55.973seconds - 0.600seconds faster to make it to the Final 4 for the first time in his Red Bull Air Race career.

Dolderer speaking about his showing said: “It was a good week, it’s good to be back in the racetrack, and today’s race saw us back in the Final 4. My time would’ve been almost good enough to win, but I have to work on why I got the penalty. San Diego is next and we look forward to it.”

Sweden’s Daniel Ryfa remained the fastest pilot till the end to retain his title in Abu Dhabi clocking 1:00.206seconds in the Challenger Class. The Swede showed that he has a cool head over his shoulders as he went on to beat the time set by German Florian Berger.