With the first qualifying round of 2018 complete, we can officially say the air race season has begun! Matthias Dolderer took the top spot as the only pilot to fly under 53 seconds, setting the new track record at a blistering 52.795 seconds. Kirby found himself 1.237 seconds off the pace which secured a fifth-place finish. Tomorrow he will face French pilot, Francois Le Vot, in heat one of the Round of 14.
“I’m happy to have flown two clean runs in qualifying. I wish my time was just a little faster, but we were consistent, and consistency is very important,” remarks Kirby. “Our plan for tomorrow is to remain consistent and clean. Hopefully we can knock a little time off while doing so.”
Head-to-head pairings for tomorrow’s Round of 14 are as follows:
- Heat 1: Francois Le Vot vs. Kirby Chambliss
- Heat 2: Christian Bolton vs. Mikael Brageot
- Heat 3: Ben Murphy vs. Juan Velarde
- Heat 4: Pete McLeod vs. Yoshihide Muroya
- Heat 5: Petr Kopfstein vs. Martin Sonka
- Heat 6: Nicolas Ivanoff vs. Michael Goulian
- Heat 7: Matt Hall vs. Matthias Dolderer
Tune in LIVE on the NBC Sports app or at www.redbullairrace.com/live.
