The British Red Bull Air Race Champion wasn't the only pilot to received penalties, but his venture below 10 meters earned him a disqualification from the race director during official qualifying for the Master Class in tomorrow's season opener in Abu Dhabi.
As Nigel falls to the bottom of the lineup, fellow Brit Paul Bonhomme went on to take the pole with a spectacular time of 51.178. Bonhomme as won the race in Abu Dhabi on three previous occasions. He expressed his frustration in a tweet from Red Bull Air Races. "Its my first low call in seven years."
Due to the changing winds that caused a high number of pylon hits in the final training session on Friday morning, the Race Committee decided to limit the Qualifying of the Master Class to only one run. This ensured that there was enough daylight to complete a valid Qualifying flying session.
Another major change in yesterday's shake-up was last years runner-up, Hannes Arch from Austria, qualified in tenth out of 14 racers. Arch is expected to be a major contender in this year championship race. Australian competitor Matt Hall, made a strong start to his 2015 season by shooting up the leaderboard and qualifying in the number two position with less than one second separating him from the first place Paul Bonhomme.
The first race of the Red Bull Air Race 2015 season starts tomorrow in Abu Dhabi and will be streamed live. Below are the official Master Class results.
Photo: Red Bull
Chris is a pilot who loves airplanes and cars and his writing has been seen on Jalopnik. Contact him with questions or comments via twitter or email.