2016 Red Bull Air Race World Championship Explained

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^[1]	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.^[2]

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.^[3]

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	align=center colspan=4	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 Points

Bold – 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

Notes and References

1. News: Pilots. 6 February 2016. RedBullAirRace.com.
2. News: Bolton steps up to the Master Class. 23 September 2016. RedBullAirRace.com.
3. News: Two amazing new locations announced for the 2016 World Championship. 16 December 2015. 16 December 2015. RedBullAirRace.com.