Germany’s Matthias Dolderer was crowned the 2016 Red Bull Air Race champion Sunday after a weathered-out season finale in Las Vegas invalidated the day’s flying results. Dolderer and Australian Matt Hall, had already clinched first and second places on the season. Hall could have theoretically claimed the championship but settled for second.  Hannes Arch, of Austria, who died in an unrelated helicopter accident in September, had accumulated enough points in the season to claim third place posthumously. It was Dolderer’s first championship. “You never reach 100 percent: We have been trying to get better and better, race by race, and I hope we come back even stronger next year,” Dolderer said. “We won’t give up and will try to defend this trophy.” 

Winds topping 30 knots caused race officials to delay Sunday’s final. The wind subsided enough to allow racing to start but it picked up again before the last two racers could run so all the results were nullified. Final results for all pilots are as followed: 1. Matthias Dolderer (GER) 80.25 points, 2. Matt Hall (AUS) 55.75 pts, 3. Hannes Arch (AUT) 41.00 pts, 4. Nigel Lamb (GBR) 37.75 pts, 5. Nicolas Ivanoff (FRA) 35.00 pts, 6. Yoshihide Muroya (JPN) 31.50 pts, 7. Pete McLeod (CAN) 30.50 pts, 8. Kirby Chambliss (USA) 30.25 pts, 9. Martin Šonka (CZE) 25.00 pts, 10. Michael Goulian (USA) 19.75 pts, 11. Juan Velarde (ESP) 14.25 pts, 12. François Le Vot (FRA) 10.00 pts, 13. Peter Podlunšek (SLO) 4.00 pts, 14. Petr Kopfstein (CZE) 4.00 pts. 15. Cristian Bolton (CHI) 0.00