Matt Hall has recorded the most impressive win of his Red Bull Air Race career with a red-hot run in the Final 4 at Ascot on Sunday.
Hall, who qualified in last place for the Final 4, put in a time one second faster than he had managed during the weekend for a 1.5 second win over ladder leader Matthias Dolderer. Hall's time of 1:03.426 eclipsed the German's 1:04.887.
Third-placed Hannes Arch and fourth-placed Michael Goulian both recorded no times in the final after stewards called them out; Arch for deviating off the track and Goulian for exceeding g limits.
“That was awesome, so much fun, what a great weekend,” Hall said.
“I came here after the podium in Budapest at the last race saying there’s no reason we couldn’t try and win each race, there’s no reason you can’t and we have got that one.
“It’s hard to win one of these races but you have to try. The secret though was not trying too hard and instead focussing on being smooth, being consistent and not getting any penalties, any pylon hits and we achieved that goal too.”
After qualifying in eight place, Hall began race day by defeating former world champion Arch in the head-to-head Round of 14. His time of 1:04.771 was the fourth fastest of the round and by far his fastest of the week. Arch was a lucky loser and progressed to the Round of 8 after two pilots above him were disqualified for technical breaches.
In the Round of 8, Hall showed the consistency that he had hoped for in Ascot by clocking a 1:04.728 to comfortably defeat France’s Nicolas Ivanoff and set up his Final 4 position.
Hall posted his blistering Final 4 time first, then watched as both Goulian and Arch faltered. His win was confirmed when the last man to fly, Dolderer, couldn't match his time.
The win catapulted Hall from seventh to third in the championship standings. His 33.75 points brings him within striking distance of second-placed Arch on 35 points and runaway leader Dolderer on 53.25 points.
With such a large gap to first place and only three races to go, Hall knows it will be a huge job to challenge for the championship
“There’s no pressure on me, I’m a long way off Matthias and he keeps accumulating points,” Hall said.
“I can’t stop him doing that, all I can do is the best I can and hopefully accumulate more than him and the other guys.
"It’s going to be fun.”
The 2016 Red Bull Air Race World Championship series now goes to Lausitzring in Germany 3-4 September.