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Mike Mangold Races to Victory in Istanbul, Highlights on Freecaster: Over 1 million fans crowd the banks of Golden Horn

This news was published on Monday, June 4th, 2007 and is archived under Air Sports.

Mike Mangold (Team Cobra/USA) beat Paul Bonhomme (Team Matador/GBR) in the fourth Red Bull Air Race World Series event of the season in Istanbul, Turkey on Saturday 2nd June, flying through an obstacle course just metres above the Golden Horn estuary that marks the boundary between Europe and Asia. In a thrilling quarter-final showdown, the winner of the last Red Bull Air Race last month in Monument Valley Peter Besenyei (HUN) was nipped by Alejandro Maclean (ESP) by just 0.04 seconds.

Mangold picked up his first win of Red Bull Air Race World Series after completing a superb run at speeds of up to 400 kph (250 mph), dealing with forces of up to 10G through the spectacular Air Gate course stretched out in the estuary between the Galata Bridge and the Atatürk Bridge in a time of 01:31.78 minutes to edge out Paul Bonhomme, who trailed by 1.39 seconds through the circuit. Over 1 million spectators crowded the banks of Golden Horn in Istanbul to watch Mike Mangold race to victory.

Mangold, whose plane lost a wingtip attachment during Friday’s qualifying, thanked his ground crew for the victory. “My crew won this race. I wasn’t even sure if I was going to be able to start.” Mangold’s mechanics worked late into the night Friday to fix the aircraft in time for today’s race. Second-place finisher Bonhomme praised the winner: “It was impossible to beat Mike. He was fantastic.”

Bonhomme currently leads the championship with 20 points followed by Mike Mangold just one point behind. The next stop is in Interlaken (CH) on 14-15 July.

 

Watch all the highlights from the Red Bull Air Race World Series, Istanbul

 

Source: Freecaster – Renee Smith
For further information about Freecaster, click here


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