LAUSITZ, Germany – Matt Hall put in another solid performance in training on Friday ahead of the weekend’s Red Bull Air Race, taking fifth place in the final practice run before Saturday’s qualifying session at the EuroSpeedway Lausitz motorsport venue south of Berlin.
The Australian ace stopped the clock in 1:14.57 – which was well over a second faster than his Thursday best training time of 1:16.22. It looked like Hall would move to fourth on Friday after taking sixth just 24 hours earlier until Japan’s Yoshi Muroya put in a strong time of 1:14.49 to knock Hall back to fifth at the very end of the session. Austria’s Hannes Arch had the fastest training time, a 1:12.01, ahead of Britain’s Paul Bonhomme in 1:13.03.
“I was in an upbeat mood and ready to go and definitely focused on the task at hand,” Hall said at his hangar, which is set up on the pit lane at the world class motor sport race track.
“I flew my plan. I knew the race line I wanted to fly, I knew how I was going to fly the aircraft as far as aggression and feel – and I just went out and did it.”
He added: “I thought I could crack a 1:15 without pushing it too hard. I came in with a 1:14.57 and it was still a comfortable flight. At no stage was I concerned about hitting a gate or getting low or being near a wing stall.”
Lausitz gridstand
The 38-year-old, who missed the races in Windsor and New York after his plane suffered a wing stall and skimmed off the Detroit River before the Windsor race, is currently in eighth place in the Championship on 22 points – with results from just three of five races. He is within striking range of Pete McLeod in fifth place (29 points) but Hall says he is not worried about making any big move up in the overall standings in the final race of the 2010 season.
“I’m not pushing as hard as I potentially would if it had been a great year so far and I was right up there at the top of the championship,” said Hall, who was the most successful rookie in the history of the sport last year with third place overall.
“It’s just confidence building at this point. I’m not really thinking about going faster. As I’m regaining confidence in the track and in the aircraft, I’ll naturally fly smoother and more efficiently, which will lead to more speed. But I’m not deliberately going to go out there and fly any harder.”
Hall said it has been a difficult year and he was looking forward to an upbeat conclusion.
“The year’s nearly over so let’s finish having fun with a good result,” he said.
For full results of Training 4, click here.
Matt’s thoughts following Training 4:
