Snaps Long Win Drought In Hungary

American Kirby Chambliss got his first win in a long time in the Red Bull Air Race series in the stop at Budapest, Hungary.

Nine years and 40 races since he last stood atop a Red Bull Air Race podium, the two-time series champion came alive on Sunday, taking the fourth – and most prestigious – round of this year's championship with a run nearly six-tenths of a second faster than anything he'd managed all weekend, denying Hungary pace-setter Pete McLeod at the final hurdle after the Canadian looked set to record a long-overdue second career win over the Danube.

McLeod had Hungary circled as a race he was determined to win coming into Budapest, and flew like it all weekend, qualifying fastest for the second race in a row and becoming the first pilot to break the magic one-minute mark at the iconic track that runs beneath the famed Chain Bridge, setting a stunning time of 59.508secs on Saturday.

Come race day, McLeod, Chambliss, series leader Yoshihide Muroya and Martin Sonka, the fastest pilot in the Round of 8, made the Final 4, with Chambliss flying first and under immediate pressure to deliver. His response was emphatic, a 1min 00.632secs run the second-fastest of the entire day, and one that proved a bridge too far for his rivals.

McLeod came closest, an agonising 0.108secs away from a second career win to accompany his sole success in Las Vegas in 2014, while Sonka's chances slipped through his fingers when he was given a two-second penalty for climbing in Gate 18 and fell to fourth.

Muroya was the last man to fly as he strived to make it three wins on the trot after saluting in San Diego and his home race in Chiba, but third was all he could manage – and for the first time since London 2008, Chambliss was a race winner.

"When you're winning, winning is easy," he grinned afterwards.

"And when you're not, it's not! I'd almost forgotten what champagne tasted like."

Chambliss' smile was the brightest on the podium, but not by a lot. McLeod made it two podiums for the year to climb into third place in the overall standings, while Sonka's late slip enabled Muroya to grab another top-three finish – and with it, take overall possession of first place in the standings from the crestfallen Czech.

Muroya retained his series lead with third place

"I feel very, very disappointed after this race, because I made a similar mistake in Chiba, we were fastest and because of my fault we fell down to third place and now we were fastest again and we fell all the way to fourth," Sonka lamented.

"Right now, I can't take any positives, because I could be first in the standings with a nice margin, but because of my penalties, I'm second."

Sonka wasn't the only pilot to leave Budapest shaking his head; reigning series champion Matthias Dolderer had a nightmare run in Hungary, the 2016 Budapest victor finishing second-last after exceeding the G-limit in qualifying, and then doing it again in his Round of 14 clash with Muroya. "I need to forget this weekend and concentrate on the next one," he said after falling to sixth overall.

Chambliss had waited a long time to celebrate again, but won't have long to wait for the next race – Kazan in Russia comes up in a little over two weeks, where Muroya will look to defend his series lead, Sonka look to cut down on his mistakes, and where Chambliss will be ready to pounce again given the opportunity. Very quietly, the American has crept to within a race win of top spot on the table, and with four races remaining, this year's championship really is as wide-open as it gets.

(Images provided by Red Bull Air Racing)

FMI: www.redbullairrace.com/en_US