April 19, 2009, ABU DHABI —Team Abu Dhabi won the second round of the Red Bull Air Race with home favourite and defending world champion Hannes Arch defending his title off to a stunning start by claiming the first victory in the opening round of the Red Bull Air Race World Championship, reported Khaleej Times. The Austrian, racing under Team Abu Dhabi, turned on the style in the four-man final recording the fastest time of the weekend — 1minute and 24.60 seconds — to win the third race of his career by less than a second from last year’s Abu Dhabi champion Paul Bonhomme of Great Britain (1 minute and 25.49 seconds).

The thrilling final saw French Nicolas Ivanoff claim third place (1 minute and 26.34 seconds) with Briton Nigel Lamb in fourth (1 minute and 26.63 seconds). Arch saved his best run for last after an error in the pre-final Super 8s nearly saw him miss out on a place in the final. But with the very last run of an action-packed opening round, the 41-year-old Team Abu Dhabi pilot roared his 340HP Edge 540 aircraft on to the 6.8km course at a speed of 367kph before producing a flawless performance to prevent Bonhomme making it back-to-back wins in the UAE capital.

“The ‘home’ favourite tag may have hindered most pilots but not Hannes; he has shown nerves of steel to hold off the competition and claim a debut triumph for Team Abu Dhabi,” said Ahmed Hussein, deputy director general, ADTA.

“For me it was really difficult — my most difficult race so far,” said Arch after receiving the trophy from Sheikh Zayed bin Hamdan bin Zayed Al Nahyan. “Of course, there was pressure from last year being world champion but there was also pressure from the media and the other pilots.”

The second round of the 2009 Red Bull Air Race World Championship will see the 15-man field take to the skies in San Diego, California on May 9-10 before heading to the Canadian city of Windsor, Hungarian capital Budapest and the Portuguese city of Porto before the championship comes to a climax in Barcelona in October.