BRISTOL: Shawn Langdon claimed fifth while Khalid Al Balooshi secured seventh spot for the Qatar Al Anabi Racing Top Fuel team as rain forced the cancellation of qualifying session at the 15th annual Ford NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals, here on Friday night.
In the afternoon session before the rains came, Langdon made a very solid first pass of the weekend with a 3.893-second effort at 316.75 mph and was fifth quickest of the first session.
Al Balooshi was seven-thousandths of a second behind his team-mate and was seventh.
The afternoon runs placed both drivers in perfect position for the night qualifying session — the cars that go last in the order generally have the best conditions and yield the quickest runs before rain hurt the session.
“We made a kind of conservative run so we would be in position to make a run at that No.1 qualifier,” Langdon, the reigning world champion, said.
“It’s unfortunate that the rain came, because I think we had an excellent shot at getting the No. 1 qualifier spot,” he added.
“Our team made a good start to the weekend,” Al Balooshi said following the session.
“We made good runs in the first round so we could try to get the No. 1 qualifier at night. The rain came and we did not get to make the run, but it is the same for everybody,” said the Al Anabi team’s driver before hoping for a solid performance.
“The Al Anabi team will work hard to be ready to race on Sunday [today]. I thank everyone on our team for their hard work.”
Al Anabi Racing operates out of multiple locations in both the United States and Qatar.
H E Sheikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Thani’s has created increased international awareness of the State of Qatar while highlighting the nation’s international sports outreach.
Alan Johnson is a 15-time NHRA champion in various capacities, including crew chief, team owner and team manager.
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