This weekend's second round of the 2016 Red Bull Air Race season marks the first time Matt Hall has raced at Spielberg, Austria, since taking his maiden win there last year.
Hall, who finished second in the championship last year with two race wins, scored his maiden victory in Spielberg last year, and the 44-year-old Australian is hoping to bounce back from an uncharacteristically slow start to 2016.
Hall placed ninth in the season opener in Abu Dhabi last month after a lapse in concentration saw him clip a pylon and cop a three-second penalty in the opening flight, knocking him out of contention.
Despite moving up to eighth in the standings following the subsequent disqualification in Abu Dhabi of Austrian hero Hannes Arch, Hall sits 13 points behind round one winner Nicholas Ivanoff of France.
Hall said despite the less than stellar opening round result, he was confident he could bounce back in Spielberg.
“We didn’t start the season with the result we wanted and on paper it doesn’t look great but we won qualifying and I was on my way to the fastest time in the round of 14 when I hit the pylon so I know we are fast,” he said.
“We need to continue along the pathway of getting the basics right and forget about what was, essentially, an error that shouldn’t have occurred, rather than a problem with how I fly or our processes.
“Spielberg has brought the best and worst results of my career and this week we are hoping to emulate what we did here last season. With the Spielberg round moved forward in the season it’s exciting to have the chance to come back so soon after the win and race here again. We have very fond memories of this place.”
The 14 pilots of the Masteclass category will return to action for official practice on Friday, before qualifying on Saturday and the race on Sunday.
Australian audiences can watch the action LIVE on Fox Sports 2 from 9.00 pm AEST or online at www.redbullairrace.com/live. Saturday’s qualifying session will also be live streamed from midnight AEST.