Pete McLeod and his team look to better their 3rd place finish in the opening round of the Red Bull Air Race Series. 

A challenging track in Rovinj, Croatia caused problems for many Red Bull Air Race pilots in Friday's first training sessions ahead of the weekend's racing.

Rovinj, Croatia – The Red Bull Air Race World Championship pilots were battling to find the right lines on Friday on the first day of training ahead of the weekend's racing in the Croatian port town of Rovinj as there were an unusually high number of pylon hits on the challenging track set up on the shores of the Adriatic Sea. Some of the pilots opted to deliberately skip the most difficult gate in anticipation it may be moved while others, such as championship leader Paul Bonhomme, flew through the existing course in the hope that the track would not be changed.

Matthias Dolderer of Germany, Martin Sonka of the Czech Republic and Matt Hall of Australia were on top of Friday's time sheet while Austria's Hannes Arch was fourth, Bonhomme was fifth and Peter Besenyei of Hungary was sixth. Japan's Yoshi Muroya (7), Canada's Pete McLeod (8), Britain's Nigel Lamb (9), Kirby Chambliss of the United States (10), compatriot Michael Goulian (11) and France's Nicolas Ivanoff (12) followed.

"The track is very challenging and it's good fun," said defending champion Bonhomme. "It'd be a shame if they move one of the gates because I quite like this track. It's got a nice flow and I quite enjoy it. There will be some pylon hits, though, if they leave it as it is."

Arch, the 2008 world champion who was narrowly beaten by Bonhomme in the season opener last month in Abu Dhabi, was upset about his disappointing first training run. He returned to the Race Airport to refuel after burning off 35 of his 50 liters in holding patterns while several burst Air Gates on a previous run had to be repaired. Arch said that messed up his rhythm.