AND WELCOME BACK TO LIVE RED BULL AIR RACE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 2017! WE ARE READY... ARE YOU?!
AND HERE WE GO! It's Mikael Brageot, first up in his first Master Class Qualifying!
And that's a quick vertical turn for Brageot and 11th fastest in FP3 earlier, he's loving that MXS-R and it shows!
Great work by Brageot there with a clean run to kick things off – 54.431 sets the pace
Second of two runs for Brageot... this is all green as he tightens up after posting a solid first run... and he's quicker, it's more than 1s faster! Clean and 53.326 is nothing to sniff at for a newcomer to the elite class!
The next newcomer, Cristian Bolton into the track next – he stepped up at the end of 2016 as the stand in pilot so he's had a taste of this before
Flying the Edge 540 V2, he's been preparing for this since his debut in the Challenger Cup
It's a great first run for the Chilean pilot, but he's not as fast as Brageot – 53.820
+0.494
And that second run is stronger still, he's just a fraction behind Brageot with 53.584
And Petr Kopfstein next... he's had a great week so far with excellent results in training and FP
So it's a DNF for his first run, which puts the pressure on now for his second attempt!
And that is the kind of excitement we like! Kopfstein claws that back with 53.221 and moves ahead of Brageot!
Peter Podlunsek flies next – another Challenger Cup graduate
It's red on the split times and there is the first pylon hi! 3s straight away and he'll have to dig deep in his second run... while our Airgators get busy!
Next up it's Francois Le Vot... and it's too fast through the start gate and an immediate 1s in penalties
And it's all back up and running! Podlunsek is straight back into the track and he's started well but that is an over G and he's blown it!
Le Vot's plane is known to be on the slower side so the Frenchman really has to work hard to compensate
His first run, with that penalty – 56.037
Can he improve on that with a second go? It's all about getting it right in Qualifying so the Round of 14 head to head doesn't make life difficult. Whoever finishes last flies against the fastest, so the closer to the middle you can finish, the more evenly matched the pairing will be
Le Vot goes again and he clears the start gate without any trouble this time and it's a faster run... this is good, and he stops the clock in 54.764, although he's +1.543 off the pace of current leader Kopfstein
Brageot: "The plan was to be confident in the first run and increase power and performance in the second run. We will do everything we can to take everything out of the Skyracer and give the best performance."
Bolton: "As soon as I crossed the start gate it was great. The net time was great. We're here to make it tough for the other guys. The teamwork is excellent and we're in a very positive direction."
And Juan Velarde gets the OK from Race Director Jim DiMatteo to head into the track! He's off!
Engine sounding great, says Bonhomme from the commentary box
WOOHOO - Red Bull Air Race back again - YEEEEAAAAAHHH
AND WELCOME BACK TO LIVE RED BULL AIR RACE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 2017! WE ARE READY... ARE YOU?!
