# 2016 Red Bull Air Race World Championship

The 2016 Red Bull Air Race World Championship was the eleventh Red Bull Air Race World Championship series.

## Aircraft and pilots
### Master Class

| Team | No. | Pilot | Aircraft | Rounds |
| Cristian Bolton Racing | 5 | Cristian Bolton | Zivko Edge 540 V2 | 7–8 |
| Team Sonka | 8 | Martin Šonka | Zivko Edge 540 V3 | All |
| Breitling Racing Team | 9 | Nigel Lamb | MX Aircraft MXS-R | All |
| Breitling Racing Team | 11 | Mikaël Brageot | Master Mentoring Program | Master Mentoring Program |
| Breitling Racing Team | 12 | François Le Vot | Zivko Edge 540 V2 | All |
| Team Chambliss | 10 | Kirby Chambliss | Zivko Edge 540 V3 | All |
| Team Spielberg | 18 | Petr Kopfstein | Zivko Edge 540 V3 | All |
| Matthias Dolderer Racing | 21 | Matthias Dolderer | Zivko Edge 540 V3 | All |
| Hannes Arch Racing 22 | 22 | Hannes Arch | Zivko Edge 540 V3 | 1–6 |
| Team Velarde | 26 | Juan Velarde | Zivko Edge 540 V2 | All |
| Team Hamilton | 27 | Nicolas Ivanoff | Zivko Edge 540 V2 | All |
| Team Falken | 31 | Yoshihide Muroya | Zivko Edge 540 V3 | All |
| Peter Podlunšek Racing | 37 | Peter Podlunšek | Zivko Edge 540 V2 | All |
| Team Garmin | 84 | Pete McLeod | Zivko Edge 540 V3 | All |
| Matt Hall Racing | 95 | Matt Hall | MX Aircraft MXS-R | 1–7 |
| Team Goulian | 99 | Michael Goulian | Zivko Edge 540 V2 | All |

#### Pilot changes

* Reigning champion Paul Bonhomme and inaugural champion Péter Besenyei retired from the sport following the final round of the 2015 season.
* Petr Kopfstein and Peter Podlunšek made their debuts in the Master Class, having finished equal 1st and 5th respectively in the previous years' Challenger Class standings.

#### Mid-season changes

* Cristian Bolton stepped up to the Master Class following the death of Hannes Arch before the Indianapolis round of the series.

### Challenger Class

* All Challenger Cup Pilots used an Extra 330LX.
| No. | Pilot | Rounds |
| 33 | Mélanie Astles | 2-8 |
| 77 | Francis Barros | 1–3 |
| 62 | Florian Bergér | 1–2, 4–6, 8 |
| 5 | Cristian Bolton | 1–5 |
| 48 | Kevin Coleman | 1–3, 5–8 |
| 6 | Luke Czepiela | 1, 3–4, 6–8 |
| 24 | Ben Murphy | 1, 3–8 |
| 17 | Daniel Ryfa | 1–2, 4–6, 8 |

#### Pilot changes

* Mélanie Astles, Kevin Coleman, Luke Czepiela and Ben Murphy will make their debuts in the Challenger Class. Astles will become the first female pilot to compete in a Red Bull Air Race event.

## Race calendar and results

The eight-event calendar for the 2016 season was announced on 16 December 2015.
| Round | Country | Location | Date | Fastest Qualifying | Winning Pilot | Winning Aircraft | Winning Challenger | Report |
| 1 | United Arab Emirates | Abu Dhabi | 11–12 March | Matt Hall | Nicolas Ivanoff | Zivko Edge 540 | Daniel Ryfa | report |
| 2 | Austria | Red Bull Ring, Spielberg | 23–24 April | Juan Velarde | Matthias Dolderer | Zivko Edge 540 | Florian Bergér | report |
| 3 | Japan | Makuhari, Chiba | 4–5 June | cancelled | Yoshihide Muroya | Zivko Edge 540 | Cristian Bolton | report |
| 4 | Hungary | Budapest | 16–17 July | cancelled | Matthias Dolderer | Zivko Edge 540 | Daniel Ryfa | report |
| 5 | United Kingdom | Ascot Racecourse, Ascot | 13–14 August | Matthias Dolderer | Matt Hall | MX Aircraft MXS | Kevin Coleman | report |
| 6 | Germany | Lausitzring, Klettwitz | 3–4 September | Nigel Lamb | Matt Hall | MX Aircraft MXS | Florian Bergér | report |
| 7 | United States | Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Indiana | 1–2 October | Yoshihide Muroya | Matthias Dolderer | Zivko Edge 540 | Luke Czepiela | report |
| 8 | United States | Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Las Vegas | 15–16 October | cancelled due to high winds | cancelled due to high winds | cancelled due to high winds | cancelled due to high winds | report |

## Championship standings
### Master Class
#### Master Class scoring system

| Position | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th | 10th | 11–14th |
| Points | 15 | 12 | 9 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Pos. | Pilot | ABU | SPE | CHI | BUD** | ASC | LAU | IND | LVG | Points |
| 1 | Matthias Dolderer | 2 | 1 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | C | 80.25 |
| 2 | Matt Hall | 9 | 5 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 4 | | 55.75 |
| 3 | Hannes Arch † | EX * | 2 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 5 | | | 41 |
| 4 | Nigel Lamb | 11 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 10 | 2 | C | 37.75 |
| 5 | Nicolas Ivanoff | 1 | 7 | DNS | 7 | 7 | 7 | 6 | C | 35 |
| 6 | Yoshihide Muroya | 8 | 13 | 1 | 5 | 8 | 14 | 5 | C | 31.5 |
| 7 | Martin Šonka | DSQ | 9 | 2 | 13 | 5 | 4 | 7 | C | 31 |
| 8 | Pete McLeod | 7 | 4 | 12 | 9 | 13 | 3 | 3 | C | 30.5 |
| 9 | Kirby Chambliss | 5 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 9 | 8 | DSQ | C | 30.25 |
| 10 | Michael Goulian | 6 | 10 | 13 | 10 | 4 | 6 | 10 | C | 19.75 |
| 11 | Juan Velarde | 10 | 14 | 5 | 8 | 11 | 9 | 8 | C | 14.25 |
| 12 | François Le Vot | 3 | 12 | 10 | 14 | 12 | 12 | 12 | C | 10 |
| 13 | Peter Podlunšek | 12 | 8 | 11 | 11 | 10 | 13 | 11 | C | 4 |
| 14 | Petr Kopfstein | 13 | 11 | 9 | 12 | 14 | 11 | 9 | C | 4 |
| 15 | Cristian Bolton | | | | | | | 13 | C | 0 |
| Pos. | Pilot | ABU | SPE | CHI | BUD | ASC | LAU | IND | LVG | Points |
| Colour | Result |
| Gold | Winner |
| Silver | Second place |
| Bronze | Third place |
| Green | Points finish |
| Blue | Non-points finish |
| Blue | Non-classified finish (NC) |
| Purple | Retired (Ret) |
| Red | Did not qualify (DNQ) |
| Red | Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ) |
| Black | Disqualified (DSQ) |
| White | Did not start (DNS) |
| White | Withdrew (WD) |
| White | Race cancelled (C) |
| Blank | Did not practice (DNP) |
| Blank | Did not arrive (DNA) |
| Blank | Excluded (EX) |
* Arch finished 4th but was later excluded from the results; thus the points for 4th place were not awarded to any pilot. ** The final four wasn't held because of bad weather, 75% of points were awarded for this situation.

### Challenger Class
#### Challenger Class scoring system

| Position | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th |
| Points | 10 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 |
| Pos. | Pilot | ABU | SPE | CHI | BUD | ASC | LAU | IND | LVG | Drop | Points |
| 1 | Florian Bergér | 3 | 1 | | 4 | 2 | 1 | | C | 10 | 28 |
| 2 | Daniel Ryfa | 1 | 3 | | 1 | 5 | 4 | | C | 6 | 26 |
| 3 | Kevin Coleman | 2 | 2 | 2 | | 1 | 6 | 4 | C | 12 | 26 |
| 4 | Luke Czepiela | 5 | | 3 | 3 | | 2 | 1 | C | 14 | 26 |
| 5 | Cristian Bolton | | 4 | 1 | 6 | 3 | | | | | 20 |
| 6 | Ben Murphy | 4 | | 5 | 2 | 6 | 3 | 3 | C | 6 | 20 |
| 7 | Mélanie Astles | | 6 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 2 | C | 4 | 16 |
| 8 | Francis Barros | DSQ | 5 | 6 | | | | | | | 2 |
| Pos. | Pilot | ABU | SPE | CHI | BUD | ASC | LAU | IND | LVG | Drop | Points |