Bonhomme blasts rivals out of the water in Qualifying

"It's a good start to the weekend but there's no point getting too excited yet because there's an awfully long way still to go on race day," said Bonhomme, who has won the Abu Dhabi race three times in the past (2008, 2010, 2014 ). "Let's not count our chickens before they've hatched. The wind conditions are changing here all the time. We've had an entire week of southeasterly winds and then today they shifted to northerly winds. Whoever can adapt best to the changing set of conditions will win tomorrow."

Australia's Matt Hall continued his strong start to the 2015 season, with a second place finish with 57.800. Hannes Arch of Austria was unexpectedly down in tenth place and surprise package Yoshi Muroya claimed 3rd with 59.093.The flying session was characterised by changing winds and calm conditions, in contrast to earlier training rounds.

The results from today will determine the pairings for the new head-to-head Round of 14 that kicks off tomorrow's Race Day.

Official Master Class Qualifying result