The Red Bull Air Race World Series kicked off the season on the 10 - 11th April in Abu Dhabi. Being the first race of the 08 series, all eyes were on “New comer” Glen Dell to see how he handled himself in a competition format such as the Air Race - he come out with Flying colours…
Glen landed in Abu Dhabi with his South African team of Jonathan Sayers, Team Manager and Technician, Leon Joubert on the 2nd April to prepare the plane for his debut race. The team worked furiously to prepare the plane for Glen’s first taste of pylon racing during the practice sessions, 2 days before qualifiers.
10 th April - The qualifying race kicked off around 2pm on the 10th April – a time trial format which would seed the pilots for the actual race. Glen positioned himself an impressive 11th for the event and would therefore have the opportunity to battle it out for the 1 championship point.
11th April – RACE Day had arrived. 12 of the world’s best pilots would now compete, flying only 10- 14metres above the ground, pulling 8-10 G’s in a fast challenging course. Flying second, Glen manoeuvred his way though the race track, cruising at 350.89 kph clocking a respectable time of 1:18:02. An elated Dell arrived back in his hangar to watch the re-run of his flight and the rest of the race with his team mates.
The day drew to and exciting close with the semi finals seeing Hannes Arch (AUT) beating 2007 Series winner Mike Mangold (USA) in the semi finals to go head to head with Paul Bonnhomme (GRB) in the Final. Paul flew a faultless round and walked away with a resounding victory.
Glen took all the attention, pressure and learning’s in his stride. Being the newbie of the group, he settled himself and stuck to his strategy perfectly. He wanted to first get a feel for racing (of this nature) not coming in brash and ballsy and– not Glens style at all. The cherry on the top for Glen besides participating were the compliments he received from the top brass at the event, Race director & pilots – all with the same sentiment – Glen is going to move up the rankings really quickly and make his mark..
All in all the phenomenal day!
To see what when down in Abu Dhabi – watch Carte Blanche (M-net) on the 20th April 19h00 for an in-depth look at Glen and the race itself. Enjoy..
The next leg of the Red Bull Air Race is being held in San Diego USA on the 3-4th May – keep your eye on Glen..
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