Red Bull Air Race

Race calendar: The 2019 Red Bull Air Race World Championship will span eight races on three continents with 14 Master Class pilots competing. Master Class pilots comprise Cristian Bolton (CHI), Mikaël Brageot (FRA), Kirby Chambliss (USA), Matthias Dolderer (GER), Michael Goulian (USA), Matt Hall (AUS), Nicolas Ivanoff (FRA), Petr Kopfstein (CZE), François Le Vot (FRA), Pete McLeod (CAN), Ben Murphy (UK), Yoshihide Muroya (JPN), Martin Šonka (CZE), and Juan Velarde (SPA).
The Challenger Cup will see six pilots flying the official race circuits on race day prior to the first round of the Master Class competition. The Challenger pilots will comprise Mélanie Astles (FRA), Florian Bergér (GER), Kenny Chiang (HK), Kevin Coleman (USA), Dario Costa (ITA), Luke Czepiela (POL), Patrick Davidson (RSA), Daniel Ryfa (SWE), and Baptiste Vignes (FRA). The three rookies Sammy Mason (USA), Patrick Strasser (AUT) and Vito Wyprächtiger (SUI) will complete the line-up.
Red Bull will provide standardised Zivko Edge 540 V2 planes for the Challenger Cup.
Race format: Fastest time from two qualification runs defines ranking for race day. Seven winners of head-to-head races in the Round of 14 proceed to the next stage, plus the fastest loser. The Round of 8 again sees heats with the pilots being reseeded based on the times they clocked in the Round of 14. The fastest from the previous round races against the slowest, and so on. The four winners proceed to the Final 4 where they race against the clock. However, if both pilots in a heat do not post a valid time, another lucky loser will proceed to the next round based on clocked time. This rule change applies to Round of 14 as well as Round of 8. The Challenger Class race will take place before the Round of 14 contest.
Standard engines (Lycoming Thunderbolt AEIO-540-EXP), propellers (Hartzell composite 3-blade 'The Claw') and exhaust systems to be employed by all pilots.
Pylons (air gates) are kept 25 m high for safety reasons. Knife edge flying through gates and the quadro gate remain removed from the race format.
Scoring: The fastest in qualifying will get 3 points, the second 2 points, and the third 1 point. The winner on race day will get 25 points, the second 22 points, the third 20 points, and the fourth 18 points. Pilots advancing to the Round of 8 will receive a five-point bonus: the fifth 14 points, the sixth 13 points, the seventh 12 points, and the eighth 11 points. The ninth will get 5 points, the tenth 4 points, down to 1 point for thirteenth place. However, any pilot collecting a DQ in any round will receive no points at all.
Penalties: 3 seconds each for the first two pylon hits in a run; 2 seconds for flying too high or too low, as well as incorrect level flying; 1 second for missing smoke, for entry speed between 201 kn [181 kn] (372.3 km/h | 335.2 km/h) and 201.99 kn [181.99 kn] (374.1 km/h | 337.1 km/h), as well as for operational violations specific to a given race track such as incorrect vertical turning manoeuvre. Pulling more than 11 g but under 12 g ('Over G', indicated via telemetry or post-flight analysis) will also result in a 1-second penalty. The general entry speed limit of 200 kn (370.4 km/h) may be reduced by the race committee to 180 kn (333.4 km/h) under certain circumstances.
Did not finish (DNF): Third pylon hit in a run, pulling more than 12 g (Master Class) and 11 g (Challenger Class), respectively, indicated via telemetry or post-flight analysis ('Exceeding maximum G'), entry speed above 202 kn [182 kn] (374.1 km/h | 337.1 km/h), excessively incorrect turning manoeuvre, as well as deviation from the course.
Disqualification (DQ): Uncontrolled flying (e.g. closer than 10 m to the ground), crossing the safety line, engine above 2,950 rpm limit (indicated via post-flight analysis), as well as missing the post-flight minimum weight of 696 kg.