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Istanbul, Turkey – June 5, 2007 – American Mike Mangold beat Great Britain’s Paul Bonhomme to take his first win in the 2007 Red Bull Air Race World Series today.
Flying at speeds of up to 250 mph and dealing with forces of up to 10Gs while flying through an obstacle course above the Golden Horn estuary that marks the boundary between Europe and Asia, Mangold’s time of 1:31.78 edged out Bonhomme by 1.39 seconds.
Mangold also had the top speed during the elimination round at 1:31.81 minutes, beating Peter Besenyei of Hungary by 3.52 seconds.
But Mangold said his win really belongs to his crew after his plane lost a wingtip attachment during Friday’s qualifying race. “My crew won this race,” he said. “I wasn’t even sure if I was going to be able to start.”
His mechanics worked late into the night Friday to fix the aircraft for Saturday’s race.
In the consolation final, American Kirby Chambliss edged out Alejandro Maclean of Spain by 5.26 seconds to take third place. Maclean qualified for the semi finals by edging out the last race winner, Besenyei, by 0.04 seconds.
Second-place finisher Bonhomme praised the winner: “It was impossible to beat Mike. He was fantastic.”
Chambliss agreed. “It’s a high-speed course and Mike really handled it the best.”
Bonhomme currently leads the overall championship with 20 points followed by Mangold just one point behind.
Over 1 million spectators crowded the banks of Golden Horn in Istanbul to watch the competition, the fourth leg in the 10-race series. The next stop is in Interlaken, Switzerland on July 14-15.
World Series Standings
Position Name Country Points
1 P. Bonhomme GBR 20
2 M. Mangold USA 19
3 P. Besenyei Hungary 16
4 K. Chambliss USA 11
5 A. Maclean Spain 10
6 H. Arch Austria 3
7 F. Versteegh Neth 3
8 S. Jones GBR 2
9 N. Lamb GBR 0
10 M. Goulian USA 0
11 S. Rakhmani Russia 0
12 K. Schrodt Germany 0
13 N. Ivanoff France 0
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