Intro:

Britain's Paul Bonhomme won the 2014 Red Bull Air Race World Championship season-opener in Abu Dhabi on Saturday (March 1), ahead of his perennial rival Hannes Arch, and Canada's Pete McLeod.

Script:

The first event of the new Red Bull Air Race Championship - and Pete McLeod was wasting no time in making his mark.

Canada's most high profile young aviator made history in 2009 when he became the youngest pilot ever and only Canadian to fly in the Championship.

Now 30-years-old, McLeod would go onto secure third place with a mark of 58.018 seconds.

Earning him a first-ever podium.

Hannes Arch though, has been here many times before.

The first European to win the World Championship in 2008, the Austrian recorded a mark of 56.776 seconds over the waters of the Arabian Gulf.

But Arch was piped by his old rival, Paul Bonhomme.

The Briton had appeared sluggish in the penultimate round of racing, trailing both McLeod and Arch by some distance.

The defending champion though, produced a staggering improvement in the round that counted.

50-years-old this year, and by day a commercial captain flying Boeing 747s with a little less free will than here.

Nevertheless, 56.439 seconds Bonhomme's time, and he is finally off that 'unlucky' 13 championship wins.

"It is not what I expected but I am very, very pleased. You know, for all these years I have had 13 (an unlucky number to the English) wins under my belt. Now it is 14. So I kind of feel it is 'like a monkey off my back' (a nagging problem resolved). It is good to be on 14 wins, so very, very pleased."