Rovinj, Croatia – McLeod ended up in 13th place in the world's fastest motorsport series after stopping the clock in 59.592. But without the penalties, including three seconds deducted for a pylon hit, he would have had a time of 54.592 that was just a quarter of a second behind Britain's Paul Bonhomme, who won Qualifying with a time of 54.266. McLeod will face Japan's Yoshihide Muroya, who was second in Qualifying, in Sunday's Round of 14.

"It's windy and bumpy out there," said McLeod after Qualifying on sunny afternoon in Croatia. "Parts of the track are really turbulent -- the south end of the track where the south winds come over the city. I really noticed that when I came into the run. But I just tried to put down the fastest times out there."

McLeod sounded confident he could once again put in a stronger performance on race day than in Qualifying. "I've been struggling all week and we're slowly getting a handle on the speed," he said. "But of course we have to fly clean."

Bonhomme pulled off a dramatic last-gasp victory in Qualifying to win pole position. In one of the tightest Qualifying battles ever the two-time champion, he was trailing Muroya at the third of four intervals before opening up the throttle in the final sector to just beat Muroya in his new Edge 540 V3 airplane.

The competition on the challenging track in the Adriatic Sea just off the coast of Rovinj was intense and the top five pilots finished within 0.206 seconds of each other. Germany's Matthias Dolderer was fourth in 54.360 and Martin Sonka of the Czech Republic was fifth in 54.472. There was a total of 18 pylon hits in the difficult, windswept course.

Qualifying Results: 1. Paul Bonhomme (GBR) 54.266, 2. Yoshihide Muroya (JPN) 54.305, 3. Matt Hall (AUS) 54.329, 4. Matthias Dolderer (GER) 54.360, 5. Martin Sonka (CZE) 54.472, 6. Hannes Arch (AUT) 55.205, 7. Kirby Chambliss (USA) 56.098, 8. Michael Goulian (USA) 57.541, 9. Peter Besenyei (HUN) 57.714, 10. Juan Velarde (ESP) 57.788, 11. Francois Le Vot (FRA) 59.032, 12. Nigel Lamb (GBR) 59.583, 13. Pete McLeod (CAN) 59.592, 14. Nicolas Ivanoff (FRA) 59.772