The 2015 Red Bull Air Race World Championship was the tenth Red Bull Air Race World Championship series, contested over eight events in seven countries held between February and October. British pilot

Paul Bonhomme Paul Bonhomme (born 22 September 1964) is a British aerobatics and commercial airliner pilot and owner/race pilot of Team Bonhomme, the Red Bull Air Race World Champion for 2015. Racing career Bonhomme was born into a family of aviators. His f ...

won his third world title by five points, after winning half of the eight races. His closest challenger was Australian pilot Matt Hall, and the pair finished well clear at the top of the championship. Bonhomme won the opening two races of the season in

Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi (, ; ar, أَبُو ظَبْيٍ ' ) is the capital and second-most populous city (after Dubai) of the United Arab Emirates. It is also the capital of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and the centre of the Abu Dhabi Metropolitan Area. ...

and

Chiba Chiba may refer to: Places China * (), town in Jianli County, Jingzhou, Hubei Japan * Chiba (city), capital of Chiba Prefecture ** Chiba Station, a train station * Chiba Prefecture, a sub-national jurisdiction in the Greater Tokyo Area on ...

, before an eighth-place finish – his worst result of the season – in

Rovinj Rovinj (; it, Rovigno; Istriot: or ; grc, Ρυγίνιον, Rygínion; la, Ruginium) is a city in Croatia situated on the north Adriatic Sea with a population of 14,294 (2011). Located on the western coast of the Istrian peninsula, it is a po ...

, saw Hall tie his points tally with three podium finishes. After Austria's

Hannes Arch Hannes Arch (22 September 1967 – 8 September 2016) was an Austrian pilot who competed in the Red Bull Air Race World Championship from 2007 to 2016. Arch won the World Championship in the 2008 season. Early life Hannes Arch was born in Le ...

won in Rovinj and

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

, Bonhomme and Hall shared the remaining victories between them; Bonhomme won at Ascot and

Fort Worth Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. According ...

, while Hall took his first Air Race victories at the

Red Bull Ring The Red Bull Ring is a motorsport race track in Spielberg, Styria, Austria. The race circuit was founded as Österreichring (translation: Austrian Circuit) and hosted the Austrian Grand Prix for 18 consecutive years, from to . It was later sh ...

and

Las Vegas Motor Speedway Las Vegas Motor Speedway, located in Clark County, Nevada in Las Vegas, Nevada about 15 miles northeast of the Las Vegas Strip, is a complex of multiple tracks for motorsports racing. The complex is owned by Speedway Motorsports, Inc., which is ...

. Arch completed the championship podium, some 42 points in arrears of Bonhomme. The series also maintained the Challenger Cup format that was introduced for the 2014 season, for young pilots to develop their skills. Each pilot entered at least five races in order to accrue points towards the Cup rankings, with the top six pilots after the Fort Worth event being invited to a winner-takes-all event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Mikaël Brageot of France – who had topped the Cup rankings – won the race by 0.035 seconds over

Peter Podlunšek Peter Podlunšek (born May 25, 1970) is a Slovenian aerobatics pilot. He competes in the Red Bull Air Race World Championship Challenger Cup competition. His first Red Bull Air Race was on 12 April 2014 in Rovinj where he took third place. ...

, to take the title.

Aircraft and pilots

Master Class

; Entering * Challenger Class competitors

François Le Vot François Le Vot is a fighter pilot in the French air force, presenter and international competitor in aerobatics, most notably in the Red Bull Air Race. He was leader of the aerobatic team of the French Air Force and was 2013 Aerobatics World Ch ...

and Juan Velarde, who were fourth and eighth respectively in 2014, joined the Master Class.

Challenger Class

* All Challenger Cup Pilots used an Extra 330LX.

Race calendar and results

The eight-event calendar for the 2015 season was announced on 25 November 2014. An updated race calendar was released on 3 March 2015, which dropped the round in

Sochi Sochi ( rus, Со́чи, p=ˈsotɕɪ, a=Ru-Сочи.ogg) is the largest resort city in Russia. The city is situated on the Sochi River, along the Black Sea in Southern Russia, with a population of 466,078 residents, up to 600,000 residents in ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

and the round in Rovinj, Croatia returned to the calendar.

Championship standings

Master Class

;Master Class scoring system

Challenger Class

As in

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

, Challenger Class pilots had to compete in at least three races throughout the season, with each pilot's best three scores counting towards the Challenger Cup ranking. The top six pilots in the ranking qualified for a winner-takes-all race at the end of the season. ;Challenger Class scoring system

Ranking

Final

At the last race of the season at Las Vegas, the top six pilots in the standings took part in a race to determine the final ranking of the Challenger Cup.

References

External links

* {{World championships in 2015 Red Bull Air Race World Championship seasons

Red Bull Air Race The World Championship Air Race is a series of air races sanctioned by the World Air Sports Federation (FAI). Originally established in 2003 as the Red Bull Air Race, and created by Red Bull GmbH, the event involves competitors navigating a c ...