Red Bull Air Race 2016: Muroya comes out top in Qualifying at Indianapolis

Rain may have stopped play a couple of times at the Red Bull Air Race in Indianapolis on Saturday 1 October 2016, but Yoshihide Muroya did enough to fly through the raindrops to come out top in Qualifying.

The Japanese pilot was fastest round the course at the famous motorsports race track in Indianapolis, earning himself lead position for Sunday's important day of racing ahead. He also picked up the race’s DHL Fastest Lap Award for his trouble.

Dodging showers, he clinched pole position ahead of overall race leader Matthias Dolderer (GER), who was left in a surprise last place after the first round of flights.

Two Qualifying rounds were flown during the day, with rain showers keeping pilots on their toes as the racing was stopped and then started again.

Matthias Dolderer looks through the rain during Qualifying at Indianapolis.
Photo: Balazs Gardi/Red Bull Content Pool

Dolderer, who will have done enough to win the overall Red Bull Air Race World Championship if he wins in Indianapolis, shocked other pilots and spectators alike as he collected a total of seven seconds of penalty points on his first lap.

However, on his second he did enough to pull back into fourth position overall. The results in Qualifying do not effect the outcome of the final standings during Race Day on Sunday, but instead define the start list for the full day of racing ahead.

In second and third place behind Muroya were Australia’s Matt Hall Racing and Great Britain’s Nigel Lamb with the second- and third-best times. Americans Kirby Chambliss and Michael Goulian finished in the middle of the Qualifying pack at eighth and ninth.

In Challenger Class Qualifying earlier in the day, it was American Kevin Coleman clocking the best time as he flew in home skies for the first time in his racing career.

It is the first time the Red Bull Air Race World Championships have come to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway circuit, home to the famous Indy 500 car race.

Follow the race at www.redbullairrace.com

Photograph: Yoshihide Muroya. Credit: Daniel Grund/Red Bull Content Pool