The 2014 Red Bull Air Race World Championship was the ninth season of Red Bull Air Race World Championship,^[1] and the first since 2010.

In his seventh season in the series, British pilot Nigel Lamb became the champion for the first time, with consistent finishing being the key to his championship success. After starting the season slowly with just five points from the opening two events, Lamb won his first Air Race competition at Putrajaya Lake in Malaysia, before reeling off five consecutive second-place finishes. These results were good enough for him to surpass former champions Hannes Arch and Paul Bonhomme in the standings; Lamb ultimately finished nine points clear of Arch, with Bonhomme a further two points in arrears. Both pilots won two races during the season, as Arch won at Rovinj, Croatia and at Gdynia in Poland, while Bonhomme won in Abu Dhabi and his home event, at Ascot Racecourse. Nicolas Ivanoff was another two-time event winner, winning at Texas Motor Speedway and the Red Bull Ring, with Pete McLeod winning the remaining event, at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

The series also introduced a Challenger Cup for the 2014 season, for young pilots to develop their skills. Each pilot entered at least three races in order to accrue points towards the Cup rankings, with the top six pilots after the Las Vegas event being invited to a winner-takes-all event at the Red Bull Ring. Petr Kopfstein won the race by 1.1 seconds over Halim Othman, to take the inaugural title.

Starting in 2014 it was sanctioned by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) as an official motorsport,^[2] meaning provision of FAI medals especially designed for the Red Bull Air Race, the inclusion of all races in the FAI Events Calendar, and the official approval by the FAI of the race Rules & Regulations. Also, the FAI provided a safety delegate who attended all events to supervise safety aspects.^[3]

Aircraft and pilots

Master Class

No.	Pilot	Aircraft	Rounds
22	Hannes Arch[4]	Zivko Edge 540	All
91	Péter Besenyei[4]	Corvus Racer 540	All
55	Paul Bonhomme[4]	Zivko Edge 540	All
10	Kirby Chambliss[4]	Zivko Edge 540	All
21	Matthias Dolderer[4]	Zivko Edge 540	All
95	Matt Hall[4]	MX Aircraft MXS	All
27	Nicolas Ivanoff[4]	Zivko Edge 540	All
9	Nigel Lamb[4]	MX Aircraft MXS	All
84	Pete McLeod[4]	Zivko Edge 540	All
99	Michael Goulian[4]	Zivko Edge 540	All
8	Martin Šonka[4]	Zivko Edge 540	All
31	Yoshihide Muroya[4]	Zivko Edge 540	All

Challenger Class

• All Challenger Cup Pilots used an Extra 330LX.^[5]

No.	Pilot	Rounds
7	Tom Bennett[5]	1–2, 4–5, 8
5	Cristian Bolton[6]	4–6
11	Mikaël Brageot[5]	1–2, 6–8
6	Luke Czepiela[6]	2, 4–5, 7
18	Petr Kopfstein[5]	1, 3–4, 7–8
35	François Le Vot[5]	1–3, 7–8
88	Halim Othman[6]	3, 5, 7–8
25	Peter Podlunšek[5]	2–3, 5–6
17	Daniel Ryfa[5]	1, 3–4, 6, 8
23	Claudius Spiegel[5]	2, 4–5
26	Juan Velarde[5]	1, 3, 6–7

• Three new pilots (Bolton, Czepiela and Othman) earned race wings and officially joined the Challenger Class on April 5, 2014, after they surpassed rigorous training and testing which took place at the Red Bull Air Race Qualification Camp in Murska Sobota, Slovenia.^[6]

Race calendar and results

The eight-event calendar for the 2014 season.^[7] An updated race calendar was released on 15 July, with the scheduled Chinese round being replaced by a round at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria.^[8]

Round	Country	Location	Date	Fastest Qualifying	Winning Pilot	Winning Aircraft	Winning Challenger	Report
1	United Arab Emirates	Abu Dhabi	28 February – 1 March	Pete McLeod	Paul Bonhomme	Zivko Edge 540	François Le Vot	report
2	Croatia	Rovinj	12–13 April	Hannes Arch	Hannes Arch	Zivko Edge 540	François Le Vot	report
3	Malaysia	Putrajaya Lake, Putrajaya	17–18 May	Hannes Arch	Nigel Lamb	MX Aircraft MXS	François Le Vot	report
4	Poland	Gdynia	26–27 July	Paul Bonhomme	Hannes Arch	Zivko Edge 540	Claudius Spiegel	report
5	United Kingdom	Ascot Racecourse, Ascot	16–17 August	Pete McLeod	Paul Bonhomme	Zivko Edge 540	Halim Othman	report
6	United States	Texas Motor Speedway, Fort Worth	6–7 September	Pete McLeod	Nicolas Ivanoff	Zivko Edge 540	Mikaël Brageot	report
7	United States	Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Las Vegas	11–12 October	Pete McLeod	Pete McLeod[N 1]	Zivko Edge 540	Halim Othman	report
8	Austria	Red Bull Ring	25–26 October	Hannes Arch	Nicolas Ivanoff	Zivko Edge 540	Petr Kopfstein	report

Notes

Championship standings

Master Class

Master Class scoring system

Pos. Pilot UAE CRO MYS POL GBR USA1 USA2 AUT Points 1 Nigel Lamb 5 8 1 2 2 2 2 2 62 2 Hannes Arch 2 1 2 1 8 8 5 4 53 3 Paul Bonhomme 1 2 5 5 1 5 7 5 51 4 Nicolas Ivanoff 8 5 11 6 3 1 6 1 42 5 Pete McLeod 3 4 4 8 11 3 1 8 38 6 Matt Hall 4 7 3 3 5 6 4 10 33 7 Matthias Dolderer 6 9 8 11 4 4 3 11 21 8 Martin Šonka 7 6 6 10 9 7 8 3 18 9 Yoshihide Muroya 9 3 10 12 6 9 9 9 10 10 Kirby Chambliss 11 10 9 4 10 10 11 7 7 11 Péter Besenyei 10 11 7 7 7 12 12 12 6 12 Michael Goulian DNS 12 12 9 12 11 10 6 3 Pos. Pilot UAE CRO MYS POL GBR USA1 USA2 AUT Points

Colour Result Gold Winner Silver Second place Bronze Third place Green Points finish Blue Non-points finish Non-classified finish (NC) Purple Retired (Ret) Red Did not qualify (DNQ) Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ) Black Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Withdrew (WD) Race cancelled (C) Blank Did not practice (DNP) Did not arrive (DNA) Excluded (EX) Bold – Fastest Qualifying Pilot

Challenger Class

Challenger Class pilots competed in at least three races throughout the season, with each pilot's best three scores counting towards the Challenger Cup ranking. The top six pilots in the ranking qualified for a winner-takes-all race at the Red Bull Ring.

Ranking

Challenger Class scoring system

Pos.	Pilot	UAE	CRO	MYS	POL	GBR	USA1	USA2	Drop	Points
1	François Le Vot	1	1	1				6		30
2	Daniel Ryfa	2		3	2		3		6	22
3	Tom Bennett	5	2		3	2			2	22
4	Halim Othman			6		1		1		20
5	Mikaël Brageot	6	4				1	3		20
6	Petr Kopfstein	4		2	4			2	4	20
7	Claudius Spiegel		6		1	3				16
8	Juan Velarde	3		4			DSQ	4		14
9	Peter Podlunšek		3	5		5	4		2	12
10	Cristian Bolton				6	6	2			8
11	Luke Czepiela		5		5	4		5	2	8
Pos.	Pilot	UAE	CRO	MYS	POL	GBR	USA1	USA2	Drop	Points

Final

At the last race of the season in Austria, the top six pilots in the standings took part in a race to determine the final ranking of the Challenger Cup.

Rank	Pilots	Time
1	Petr Kopfstein	1:05.799
2	Halim Othman	1:06.900
3	Mikaël Brageot	1:08.112
4	François Le Vot	1:08.132
5	Daniel Ryfa	1:15.180
6	Tom Bennett	DNS