The 2006 Red Bull Air Race World Championship was the fourth Red Bull Air Race season and second as a World Championship. It began on March 18, 2006, and ended on November 19.
In the 2006 season Rotterdam in the Netherlands, Zeltweg in Austria, and Rock of Cashel in Ireland were removed from the calendar. The number of races increased from seven to nine. The new places were Barcelona in Spain, Berlin in Germany, Saint Petersburg in Russia, Istanbul in Turkey and Perth in Australia. Only eight of the races were held after the cancellation of the 4th leg in Saint Petersburg. The race in Longleat, United Kingdom was also cancelled due to high winds, however, Friday's Qualifying results were used as the official race results.
Michael Goulian from the US, who had paused in 2005, returned in 2006 to compete again as the 11th pilot. The American pilot Kirby Chambliss, took four wins and became World Champion with a total of 38 points followed by Hungarian Péter Besenyei (35 points). 2005 World Champion Mike Mangold from the United States, finished third with 30 points.
Race calendar edit
| 2006 Red Bull Air Race World Series Race Calendar | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Leg | Date | Place | Country |
| 1 | March 18 | Port of Mina' Zayid, Abu Dhabi |  United Arab Emirates
|
| 2 | May 6 | Beaches of Bogatell and Nova Icària, Barcelona |
 Spain
|
| 3 | May 27 | Tempelhof International Airport, Berlin |  Germany
|
| 4 | June 17 | River Neva, Saint Petersburg |  Russia
|
| 5 | July 29 | Golden Horn, Istanbul |  Turkey
|
| 6 | August 20 | River Danube, Budapest |  Hungary
|
| 7 | September 2 | Longleat, Wiltshire |  United Kingdom
|
| 8 | October 7 | Marina Green and Aquatic Park, San Francisco, California |
 United States
|
| 9 | November 19 | Swan River, Perth |  Australia
|
Standings and results edit
| 2006 Red Bull Air Race World Series Standings and Results | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | Pilot | UAE
|
ESP
|
GER
|
RUS
|
TUR
|
HUN
|
GBR
|
USA
|
AUS
|
Total Points | |
| 1 |  Kirby Chambliss
|
1 | 3 | 1 | CAN | 1 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 38 | |
| 2 |  Péter Besenyei
|
3 | 1 | 2 | CAN | 3 | DQ | 2 | 2 | 1 | 35 | |
| 3 | Mike Mangold
|
2 | 2 | 3 | CAN | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 30 | |
| 4 |  Paul Bonhomme
|
7 | 8 | 6 | CAN | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 26 | |
| 5 | Michael Goulian
|
6 | 9 | 5 | CAN | DNS | 4 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 11 | |
| 6 | Steve Jones
|
8 | 10 | 7 | CAN | 8 | 1 | DQ | DQ | 5 | 8 | |
| 7 |  Klaus Schrodt
|
DQ | 4 | 4 | CAN | 9 | 7 | 8 | 6 | 10 | 7 | |
| 7= |  Nicolas Ivanoff
|
5 | 5 | 9 | CAN | 5 | 6 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 7 | |
| 9 |  Alejandro Maclean
|
4 | 7 | DNS | CAN | 7 | 8 | 7 | DQ | 7 | 3 | |
| 9= | Nigel Lamb
|
9 | 6 | 8 | CAN | 6 | DQ | 6 | 8 | 8 | 3 | |
| 11 |  Frank Versteegh
|
10 | 11 | 10 | CAN | 10 | DQ | 10 | DQ | 11 | 0 | |
Legend:
- CAN: Cancelled
- DQ: Disqualified
- DNS: Did not show
Aircraft edit
| 2006 Red Bull Air Race World Series Aircraft | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aircraft | Constructor | Pilot | ||||||||||
| Extra 300L | Extra Flugzeugbau
|
Frank Versteegh
| ||||||||||
| Extra 300S | Extra Flugzeugbau
|
Péter Besenyei Paul Bonhomme Nicolas Ivanoff Nigel Lamb Klaus Schrodt
| ||||||||||
| MX2 | MXR Technologies
|
Michael Goulian (Race Abu Dhabi only) Nigel Lamb (Race San Francisco only) Frank Versteegh (Race San Francisco only)
| ||||||||||
| Velox Revolution 1 | Velox Aviation
|
Péter Besenyei (Training Abu Dhabi only)
| ||||||||||
| Zivko Edge 540 | Zivko Aeronautics
|
Péter Besenyei Paul Bonhomme Kirby Chambliss Steve Jones Alejandro Maclean Mike Mangold
| ||||||||||
External links edit
