The final races of the Red Bull Air Race World Championship’s 2016 season took place over the weekend in Las Vegas. With strong winds preventing the inflatable pylons from remaining erect, there was no change in the scores accumulated in Indianapolis earlier this month. For first-place finisher Matthias Dolderer of Germany it wouldn’t have made a difference either way. Dolderer had already accumulated enough points throughout the year to stay on top of the leaderboard in the Masters Class. With a total of 80.25 points for the season, he beat second-place finisher Matt Hall by nearly 25 points.
It was also an emotional year; third-place finisher Hannes Arch died in a helicopter accident in September. Fourth-place finisher Nigel Lamb will be missed in 2017 as he has decided to retire. Lamb said he was disappointed that his last race was canceled, but he didn’t blame the organizers.
“There was so much effort to make the race happen, and I was astounded by how hard the crews tried to keep those pylons up,” Lamb said. “Huge credit has to go to the Airgators and the whole race organization.”
There was also disappointment at Team Goulian. Mike broke a course record in Las Vegas, but like all other racers, he walked away without points. But Goulian chose to see the positive.
“Today, our team had the same hard luck that we had all season, which has tested us,” he said. “But we are one step closer as a team to becoming champions.”
The Challenger Class also closed out the season with a German winner, Florian Berger, with Daniel Ryfa taking second and Kevin Coleman third.
Check out highlights from Las Vegas below.
