Arch and Bonhomme dismiss rumours of psychological games
BARCELONA, Spain – As the temperature rises at the Red Bull Air Race Airport ahead of the 2009 grand finale in the Catalan capital, the top two pilots battling for the Championship title were keeping their cool today. Defending world champion, Austria’s Hannes Arch, was relaxed after yesterday’s victory in Qualifying where he picked up the all-important single point available with a track record time of 1:21:06. Narrowing table leader Paul Bonhomme’s advantage to just three points Arch was bright-eyed at the airport this morning.
“I am positive today,” he said, smiling. “I’m in the mood I am used to when I have a positive day. I am motivated.”
Looking across the tarmac to Bonhomme’s hangar, the Austrian dismissed speculation that psychological warfare had commenced. “We’re not interested in what is happening there,” he said. “We both know what is going on. I know what is going on in Paul’s mind and he knows what is going on in my mind.”
With additional tweaks carried out by Arch’s technician after Qualifying, the pilot was hopeful that the last few horsepower had been squeezed out of the engine just in time to secure the championship.
“I think we will do it out there today. We’ll see what we can get out of the aeroplane in the first round and we’ll know if things are working.”
Meanwhile, championship favourite Bonhomme was keeping his cards close to his chest. “We know where the 0.7 second went yesterday,” he said. “I was up on the first two intermediates and lost it in the third. We know where that was and yes, I think we can improve on that. It was a slight schoolboy error on my part in the quadro. We’ll see.”
Bonhomme’s Team Coordinator Nigel Warren painted a slightly more detailed picture, explaining that the British ace had in fact spent most evenings leading up to today’s showdown preparing for the race. “Paul has been really good at closeting himself away in his room studying,” Warren confided. “We’ve been able to provide as much information as possible about how other people are running in the track then he sits down and analyzes it.”
With Nicolas Ivanoff taking second place yesterday and rookies Matt Hall and Matthias Dolderer also posting solid runs, Bonhomme played down any additional threat.
“If you were a worrier, you would say Kirby, Nicolas and Matthias have all suddenly turned up and decided to put some effort into the last race,” he said. “It would have been nice if they’d carried on doing what they’ve been doing all year. So they could be spoilers yes, but they could also be spoilers for Hannes. But my mission today is to fly well in the Top 12. Fingers crossed I’ll get into the Super 8 and I’ll worry about the rest then.”
