The hometown favorites battled back from dismal qualifying rounds to give the capacity crowd what they came for during the Red Bull Air Races’ stop at the fabled Ascot Racecourse in England on Sunday. British pilots Paul Bonhomme and Nigel Lamb finished in first and second place respectively in the final in front of 29,000 cheering fans. It was Bonhomme’s 15th win in 55 starts on the Red Bull tour. He was almost eliminated in the opening round. Lamb, who was celebrating his 58th birthday, was less than two-tenths of a second behind for his third top-three finish in five races this season. France’s Nicolas Ivanoff was third.
Canadian racer Pete McLeod, who started in the pole position after winning Saturday’s qualifying rounds, was a disappointing 11th. Americans Kirby Chambliss and Mike Goulian were 10th and 12th. Winds were gusting up to 30 knots during the race, causing many pilots to incur technical penalties. The series now moves to the U.S. for two highly anticipated races. Sept. 7, the series moves to the Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas, and on Oct. 12 the race will be held at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
