Air Race Season Begins

Paul Bonhomme, of Britain, put on a magnificent display of flying in qualifying on Thursday. He's now secured pole position in the first race of the 2008 Red Bull Air Race World Series which takes place in Abu Dhabi today, Friday 11th April.

After losing last year’s championship by just fractions of a second, Bonhomme completely outclassed the rest of the field of the world’s top pilots at the outset of the fourth season of the race, winning the qualifying in a time of 1:03.95.



Bonhomme’s winning time on the windswept course just metres above the turquoise waters of the Arabian Gulf was 3.30 seconds faster than second place Kirby Chambliss of the United States. Defending champion Mike Mangold took third in Thursday’s qualifying. He was 3.84 seconds behind Bonhomme.