17 January 2017
No British pilots will take part in the main Master Class of the 2017 Red Bull Air Race World Championship.
The two new Master Class pilots for this season are Cristian Bolton of Chile and Mikael “Mika” Brageot of France, both moving up from the Challenger Class where competing pilots refine their skills.
Mikael Brageot, above, and Cristian Bolton, top, are the new pilots to join the Master Class of the Red Bull series. (All photos: Red Bull)
“We are really excited for 2017, though you might say that for us, our season started back in Indianapolis, because everything since then has been a good learning curve,” said Bolton, ranked as Chile’s top aerobatic pilot by the FAI and a former Lieutenant Colonel in the Chilean Air Force.
“The way we look at it, our ‘warm-up’ races are over, and now we are focused to continue learning and win races! We are a great team and fully dedicated to eventually becoming the best, and to be the fastest adversary possible to the other teams at every race.”
Britain’s Ben Murphy will be the sole Brit competing in the Challenger Class of the 2017 Red Bull World Championship.
Brageot was the 2015 Challenger Cup champion and was mentored by former world champion Nigel Lamb in the British pilot’s final season before retirement.
“I was right there, backstage, so to speak, and able to watch the whole Master Class team process,” said Brageot. “I learned a lot, race after race.”
The season opening round of the 2017 Red Bull championship is in Abu Dhabi on 10-11 February 2017.
