Defending champion Paul Bonhomme completed a hat-trick of victories in Abu Dhabi in the opening leg of the Red Bull Air Race Championship on Saturday.
The 49-year-old set an impressive time of 56.43 seconds to edge out 2008 champion Hannes Arch (56.77 secs) and Friday's qualifying winner Pete McLeod (57.07 secs), who finished in second and third places respectively.
Australia's Matt Hall, who completed the field in the four-man final, suffered a DNF penalty after hitting the pylon and missed out on a podium finish.
After winning in the UAE capital in 2008 and 2010, Bonhomme will now be hoping to add to his victories in the next race in the Croatian city of Rovinj on April 12 and 13.
The four competitiors registered the fastest times in the Top 12 and Super Eight stages on Saturday to advance to the final. In the final four, Hall got off to a good start registering an impressive time of 28.13 secs in the first lap but saw his hopes of winning the round end by hitting the pylon which ended his race.
By the time Hannes Arch took to the air, the winds were blowing but this didn't deter the Austrian. Arch pushed in the second lap to register the fastest time of the final.
Bonhomme started his race knowing what was required after Arch posted a competitive time. The Briton remained calm and gathered pace in the crucial parts of the track and used his experience to beat Arch's time.
He was later celebrating when McLeod was unable to better his time.
Earlier, in the Super eight session, Bonhomme (55.59 secs) set the fastest time ahead of McLeod (56.71 secs). The Briton had a slow start but gathered pace and posted his best track time in the UAE capital.
Arch (58.86 secs) and Hall (58.02 secs) completed the field for the final four. In the top 12 session which consisted of pilots competing in heats, Nicolas Ivanoff, Martin Sonka, Matthias Dolderer, Nigel Lamb, Hall, Arch and Bonhomme all advanced.
Former champion and twice runner-up Peter Besenyei, who clocked the slowest time in Friday's qualifying session was eliminated by McLeod.
