Arch wins washed out air race

Austrian Hannes Arch has been declared the winner of the Rio de Janeiro leg of the Red Bull Air Race after bad weather caused race officials to call off racing midway through the Top 12 round on May 9.

As a result of the bad weather, championship points were awarded based on the qualifying sessions flown on May 8, with Arch taking out the qualifying points ahead of Britons Nigel Lamb and Paul Bonhomme. As it stands, Bonhomme is in the lead of the championship on 31 points, followed by Lamb on 28 while Arch is on 27.

Australian Matt Hall finished fourth in the round, having been beaten by 32/100ths of a second by Bonhomme in qualifying. “Fourth is not a bad result…but it was disappointing. I had some things to try…and I’m disappointed I didn’t get to race,” said Hall in an interview after the results were declared. Hall now sits in fourth place in the championship, five points behind Arch.

The next round of the Red Bull Air Race will be held in Windsor, Canada, over the weekend of June 5-6.