Pete McLeod edged out defending champion Paul Bonhomme and Nigel Lamb to grab pole position for Saturday’s race at the opening leg of the eight-round Red Bull Air Race World Championship in Abu Dhabi.

The Canadian (57.932sec) was 0.197secs faster than Bonhomme (58.129secs), with Lamb (58.308secs) a further 0.376secs behind in windy conditions on the Corniche as the championship returned after a three-year gap.

Hannes Arch of Austria (58.353secs) will start today’s race in fourth position while Australia’s Matt Hall (58.713secs) completed the top five.

Former champion Peter Besenyei, who finished runne-rup twice in 2005 and 2006 in Abu Dhabi, will begin the race last having registered a time of 1:02.163, more than four seconds behind McLeod.

German Matthias Dolderer was the only pilot to be penalised yesterday following a smoke violation. The 33-year-old clocked 59.904secs, the 10th fastest despite his one second penalty.

It was an exceptional performance by McLeod who battled the winds to complete a smooth run in the qualifying session.

“It’s exciting to get first,” said McLeod. “I felt really good in the track and was really focused. Paul (Bonhomme) was right there behind me and there were a bunch of other guys close behind too.

“Some of the other guys after me might have had some misfortune with the wind changing or first-race qualifying round jitters,” added McLeod, who is the youngest pilot in the competition at 30 years old.

“It’s just awesome to be back in Abu Dhabi and back in the race track at a great location for the start of the season after doing all the training and testing,” he added.

The Canadian, who will be hoping to beat his personal best of fifth position in Abu Dhabi today believes consistency will be the key for the rest of the season.

“I always want to improve. I’d like to be competitive in a couple of races this year and push for the podium and seeing championship points adding up.

“The biggest thing is consistency,” said the Canadian. “I think my airplane is pretty good and I’m flying pretty good but everyone is flying hard.”

Today’s race begins at 15:50 on the Abu Dhabi Corniche.

QUALIFYING RESULTS

1. Pete McLeod – 57.932sec
2. Paul Bonhomme – 58.129
3. Nigel Lamb – 58.308
4. Hannes Arch – 58.353
5. Matt Hall – 58.713
6. Martin Sonka – 58.929
7. Nicolas Ivanoff – 58.989
8. Kirby Chambliss – 59.699
9. Yoshihide Muroya – 59.858
10. Matthias Dolderer – 59.904
11. Michael Goulian – 1.00.362
12. Peter Besenyei – 1.02.163