After winning the inaugural French race in Cannes last month, the Australian’s 0.319-second victory in the skies over Tokyo Bay has announced his intent – a maiden world title in 2018.

“It feels good to win today, it feels a little bit better than the last race in Cannes,” Hall said.

“That race was fantastic because we won for the first time with this plane … it was a breakthrough. But this one was just really hard fought.”

Before Hall pipped USA’s Michael Goulian in the final four, it looked likely the Novocastrian would tumble out of contention to home-town hero and defending world champion Yoshihide Muroya.

Hall finished 12^th in the qualifying session in Chiba, running slower than he had in practice before a pylon hit in the second attempt quelled any hopes of a strong position heading into the main draw.

A blistering time of 55.529 for Hall, more than half a second faster than Muroya, put him back in the driving seat heading into the second knockout stage, where the Australian also downed Spaniard pilot Juan Velarde.

“We had a poor qualifying … and went to bed knowing that our first task was to race Yoshi, who’s the reigning world champion and the guy who has won this race the last two times in a row. That made a tough morning for us,” Hall said.

“I am proud of how the team pulled it all together. There wasn’t a single error from anybody in the team. No matter what people see out there, this is a team sport, and everyone nailed it.”

The win in the final four gave Hall 15 points to the standings, putting him level with Goulian on the ladder at 36 points apiece. The Australian remains in the top spot due to two first place finishes in the last two series stops.

Hall will have the chance to defend his position atop the table at Stop 4 in the Air Race series, in Budapest. Newcastle’s star pilot finished third in last year’s Hungary race.