Red Bull Air Race to return to Abu Dhabi

The Red Bull Air Race World Championship will return to Abu Dhabi next year after a three-year hiatus.

Officially the world’s fastest motorsport series, the 2014 RBAR World Championship will see 12 pilots race in high-performance airplanes 15-25m above the ground as they navigate challenging obstacle courses of Air Gate pylons at speeds of up to 370kmph.

Following a three-year hiatus in order to improve safety and reorganise its calendar, the 2014 RBAR World Championship will feature several improvements and safety features including standardengines and propellers for all pilots, changes to the lightweight nylon pylon material, which make them even easier to burst apart when clipped by plane wings, and raising pylon heights from 20 to 25m.

Bull Air Race GmbH CEO Erich Wolf said: “We’ve all worked very hard over the last three years fine-tuning some of the safety aspects and bringing the sport to a new level. “We never took our eye off the target and neither have our fantastic pilots or our great fans around the world. Their interest in the sport remained unbelievably high during these past few years and we can’t wait to get back in the air in February 2014 in Abu Dhabi.”

In addition to the championship, new pilots in the 12-man field will also take part in a new competition titled Challengers Cup, which will comprise several training camps throughout the season.

Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority director, events bureau, Faisal Al Sheikh said: “The return of the Red Bull Air Race World Championship further underlines Abu Dhabi’s capacity to stage world-class sporting events. “Past races in the emirate saw as many as 120,000 people descend on the Corniche to watch the world’s premier high-performance pilots lock wings in two days of exhilarating daredevil displays. The authority will utilise its extensive network of overseas offices and global trade partners to ensure the series receives a typically hospitable return to Abu Dhabi and establishes an international billing as one of the next year’s keynote motorsport events.”

The event will be held at the Abu Dhabi corniche beachfront on February 28 and March 1. A further six rounds will be held in five countries around the world, including Malaysia, Poland, Great Britain, USA and China, over the following 10 months.