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Red Bull Air Race 2010: Paul Bonhomme Leads in Perth

The competition of the 2010 Red Bull Air Race came to a dramatic end with a penalty call on Nigel Lamb that gave Paul Bonhomme the fastest qualifying time in Perth. Bonhomme leaves the other pilots trailing in the dust.

British Paul Bonhomme is far in the lead of the 2010 Red Bull Air Race World Championship after gaining a point for the fastest Qualifying time in Perth.

It is not the first time that Paul Bonhomme has won in Perth.  However, in contrast to his win in 2008, this time he moved three points ahead of Nigel Lamb and now has 13 points as a reward for clocking the fastest Qualifying time.

Hannes Arch of Austria landed in second place and Nigel Lamb took third. Australia’s Matt Hall had two strong Qualifying runs, but wound up in seventh place.

Bonhomme's winning time of 1:25.07 was 0.13 ahead of Arch and 1.61 ahead of Lamb, who is second overall in the championship on 10 points. Arch, the 2008 champion, is back in 11th with 2 points. Hall’s time was an impressive 1:29.95. 

Nigel Lamb was merely fractions of a second behind Bonhomme in his second qualifying run of the Red Bull Air Race on Saturday, after which he had a brilliant second lap and beat Paul Bonhomme by more than a second at the finish line.

"I'm just about to call my son Daniel at home in the UK - it's his birthday and this will be a good present!" said Lamb of his continued strong performances in Perth. A  penalty for incorrect knife edge flying in the last seconds knocked him into third place behind Arch.

“It’s a very technical track,” said Arch. “I had a pretty fast net time and more or less the right line. It’s not so much about the plane but also about the pilot out there.”

The two fastest pilots in the Wild Card event of the 2010 Red Bull Air Race will join the fastest 10 from Saturday's Qualifying for the Top 12. The fastest 8 pilots move on to the Super 8 and the fastest 4 advance to the Final 4.

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