Austria’s Hannes Arch rallied from behind to post the fastest time in Qualifying on Saturday for the Red Bull Air Race World Championship on Sunday in San Diego and collected the one point up for grabs to widen his lead atop the standings over rival Paul Bonhomme. The British ace had posted the fastest time in the first Qualifying session flown just metres above San Diego Bay in front of a crowd of 50,000 spectators but Arch, who was only in fourth after Q1, opened the throttle in Q2 to rocket past Bonhomme with a time of 1:18.42.

That was four seconds faster than his penalty-marred first run and a massive 2.20 seconds ahead of Bonhomme, who had to settle for second. Peter Besenyei of Hungary grabbed third. Kirby Chambliss, the 2006 World Champion who took third place here a year ago, gave the big home crowd something to cheer about by taking sixth in Qualifying, putting him within striking range of landing on the podium on Sunday.

“I’m really pleased to take the extra point from Qualifying,” said Arch, who like the other 14 pilots had to contend with low-lying clouds in the second Qualifying session. “It’s really important as we only have six races this year so to win the championship you have to stay on top from Qualifying. It’s great. We were more than two seconds in front and the others were really fast.”

Bonhomme, who won in San Diego in both 2007 and 2008, came to California looking to take the championship lead away from Arch, who won last year’s title thanks to a spectacular late-season rally. Bonhomme felt confident after his smooth run in Q1 and managed to shave a second off that time in Q2. But he was unable to match Arch’s winning time. Bonhomme also suffered a slight muscle pull in Qualifying. Nicolas Ivanoff of France was fourth and Britain’s Nigel Lamb fifth.

Since taking fourth place in San Diego last year, Arch has finished in the top three in seven straight races – and won three out of the last four stretching back to the 2008 season. “There is less pressure here than in Abu Dhabi,” said Arch. “I don’t think about being fourth here last year. I don’t think about the past, only the future. Ivanoff, Bonhomme and Lamb were all really fast so the smallest mistake can decide the outcome tomorrow.”

The top 10 pilots qualified automatically for spots in the Top 12 on Sunday while the bottom five will battle it out on Sunday in the Wild Card, where the fastest two advance. The fastest eight then advance to the Super 8 before the Final 4 session will determine the winner. Rookie Matt Hall of Australia, who was fifth in his debut race in Abu Dhabi last month, dropped back to 10th on Saturday.

The 15 pilots in the largest field ever assembled in the history of the race, fly the single-propeller planes weighing 540 kg with tremendous precision, reaching speeds of up to 370 kilometres per hour and enduring forces of up to 12G as they navigate through the turn-filled courses just metres above the water. Last year, more than 3.5 million fans around the world attended the Red Bull Air Race World Championship, which was watched by a total of some 300 million viewers in 115 countries on six continents.