Czech pilot Martin Sonka won the Kazan leg of the Red Bull Air Race World Championship ©Red Bull

A magnificent finish from Czech pilot Martin Sonka took him inside the target time set by Michael Goulian of the United States and earned him victory at the fifth of the eight scheduled stops in the Red Bull Air Race World Championship in Kazan.

Despite being behind Goulian at the first intermediate stage, Sonka found a way to finish in 52.123sec, 0.115 inside the US pilot’s time.

Goulian’s compatriot Kibry Chambliss was third with 52.304, with the fourth qualifier for the final, Spain’s Juan Velarde, clocking 52.686.

It was Sonka’s second successive win after his triumph in Budapest two months ago, and another 15 points moved him up to 49 points in the overall standings. 

He is now joint second with previous leader Matt Hall of Australia who - despite setting the fastest time in practice for Kazan - failed to reach the final.

Twelve points for second place was enough to move Goulian up from second place to overall leader on a total of 55.

Czech pilot Martin Sonka's second successive Red Bull Air Race World Championship win in Kazan has moved him up to joint second in the overall standings with three races to go ©Red Bull
Czech pilot Martin Sonka's second successive Red Bull Air Race World Championship win in Kazan has moved him up to joint second in the overall standings with three races to go ©Red Bull

Racing had started with a round-of-14 which saw Germany’s Matthias Dolderer, winner of the qualifying on the previous day, drop out of contention after clipping a pylon.

Hall proceeded after winning his match against Mika Brageot, but was then unable to proceed from the round of eight.

"It's a hiccup," he said.

"This is our bad race for the year."

The master class pilots will now prepare for the sixth race in the Championship, which will take place on the new circuit in Vienna from September 15 to 16.