Air Invictus – air racing is back in Porto

For the first time since 2017 air racing returns to the Douro river and Porto city. This time as a 3-day festival Air Invictus, involving music stages, expos, test flights and the crown jewel – competitive timed flights.

The route is marked with  air gates and buoys on the Douro between the Arrábida and Dom Luís I bridges, which exposes the event for thousands of viewers on the banks of river. As claimed, attendance reached 350,000 spectators on Saturday.

The competitive field included Martin Sonka — world champion and winner of the last Red Bull Air Race stage held on the Douro in 2017 — alongside Petr Kopfstein, François Le Vot, Daniel Genevey, Nicolas Ivanoff, Juan Velarde, and Dario Costa, holder of several Guinness World Records. 

Saturday’s sessions over the Douro served as practice runs, with pilots familiarising themselves with the circuit in preparation for Sunday’s qualifications and final.

The final results of the time trial revealed a surprise winner – Petr Kopfstein finished first by a wide margin, more than 3 seconds ahead of rivals.

1. Petr Kopfstein — 1:13.466
2. Martin Sonka — 1:16.609
3. Juan Velarde — 1:19.028
4. Dario Costa — 1:20.164
5. François Le Vot — 1:24.315
6. Nicolas Ivanoff — 1:25.020
7. Daniel Genevey — 1:32.693

Air Invictus is declared as a part of World Air Race Championship, with more races to be announced. The Porto leg is suggested to be annual, with the days for the coming year to be revealed.