The narrow sky over Budapest

The fifth race of the Red Bull Air Race World Series will take place in Budapest on August 20: for local matador Peter Besenyei, this will be the third opportunity to find out if the home advantage with flying is just a bunch of hot air.

2004: 800,000 spectators, 2005: 1.3 million spectators, 2006: probably even more. For three years, Budapest has gathered on August 20, the Hungarian National Holiday, on the banks of the Danube, to go watch Besenyei.
One has to know: Peter Besenyei has not only been voted many times over athlete of the year in Hungary, but at home he is considered a national hero. This will be the third time that the Red Bull Air Race visits the Hungarian capital, and the third time Peter Besenyei will try to win his home race.
What is the home advantage with the Red Bull Air Race worth? Apparently little! Besenyei, who was able to win already Air Races altogether, flew in 2004 in his hometown to 3rd place and also last year only to 4th place.

Under the Bridge

The starting maneuver in Budapest is that which Peter Besenyei carried out in 2001 to forever fly into the hearts of his compatriots: underneath the Chain Bridge.
At that time, Besenyei flew upside-down, but with the Red Bull Air Race the pilots will probably be keeping their heads up – directly beyond the bridge they will still have to master a delicate series of 20-meter-high parallel air gates. The turn-around point of the narrow course is the Margaret Bridge, from which a series of complex gate crossings leads the pilots back to the Chain Bridge to the finish.

The Favorites

Last year Besenyei arrived in Budapest as the leader of the Red Bull Air Race World Series and gave up the lead here to Mike Mangold (USA). Looking at it this way, the Hungarian finds himself in a better position, namely as that of the attacker: Besenyei is in 2nd place in the intermediate standings of the Word Series with three points behind Kirby Chambliss (USA).
Chambliss, who was able to win three races this year, is however familiar with the conditions in Budapest – he won there in 2004. The favorites also include title defender Mike Mangold, who was the fastest pilot in Budapest last year, and Paul Bonhomme (GBR), who was surprisingly able to fly to 2nd place in the last race in Istanbul.