For a few short minutes, Team Sweden's Jesper Forss raced neck and neck with Team Atlantic's British pilot Matthew Palfreyman but after just one lap, the Swede started to draw away and by the chequered flag, Forss had built up a lead of 24 seconds.Team Qatar's Khalid Al Kuwari in third place was the only driver not to be lapped by the leader.

Fourth place Tobias Munthe-Kaas driving the wayward Team Nautica hull managed to avoid nose-diving or spinning out and was at least 15 seconds ahead of Team Abu Dhabi's Mohamed Al Mehairbi while Team China's newcomer Wu Bingchen filled 6th place ahead of the pedestrian paced Singha hull of Jan-Andre Landsnes. Hungarian Vo Kornel driving for Mad Croc retired on lap 3.