Abu Dhabi: Sheikh Khalid Al Qassimi won the Abu Dhabi Rally, a candidate event for next year’s FIA Middle East Rally Championship (MERC), in dominating fashion on Friday.
Al Qassimi dominated the event from day one, going the fastest in the super special stage held on Thursday night at the North Handling area of the iconic Yas Marina Circuit — the home of the Etihad Airways Formula One Grand Prix.
On Friday, Al Qassimi opened his campaign at the Ghantoot 1 special stage of over 18.71km. He finished 25.9 seconds ahead of his closest rival and over one minute ahead of the new overnight leader — Abu Dhabi Racing junior driver Mohamed Al Mutawaa (Al Qassimi has received a penalty of 30 seconds as he slipped off the track during the spectator stage).
From then on, Al Qassimi was in top form, winning all of Friday’s stages and storming to victory in a total time of 1 hour 24 minutes 33.8 seconds — 3 minutes 5.3 seconds ahead of Sheikh Abdullah in second place with Abdullah Al Kuwari 9 minutes 11.9 seconds further back in third overall.
Speaking before the podium, Al Qassimi said: “I would like to thank each and every member of the organising body. The organisation of the rally was first class. The stages were exciting and technically demanding in places but thankfully we didn’t face any major obstacles and won first place. I would like to thank the Citroën Total Abu Dhabi Rally Team for their consummate professionalism as always in preparing the cars to the highest standards. I would like to add that I am very happy for the Abu Dhabi Racing junior team who I thought performed very well in stages and we are looking to enroll them in numerous future rallies so that they can gain even more experience.”
Sheikh Abdullah, who came in second, said: “It was an exciting rally today. We did our best to win but unfortunately our tires did not perform well here in Abu Dhabi despite being tested at Rally Jordan.”
Third-place winner Abdullah Al Kuwari said: “We have really enjoyed the rally and its exciting stages despite the hot weather. The organisation was outstanding as were the spectators. I would like to thank Sheikh Khalid and the organising committee who delivered a fantastic Rally for all involved.”
Abu Dhabi Racing drivers Mohamed Al Mutawaa, Mansoor Belhelei, Mohammed Al Sahlawi and Saeed Bintouq finished fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh respectively.
The event, jointly organised by Yas Motor Racing Club and Abu Dhabi Racing, ran over 453.48km with 153.44km as the competitive distance over nine stages and the remainder as the liaison distance.
Ahmed Al Kaabi, Chairman of the Organising Committee, said: “I would like to thank everyone in the organising team for their efforts in making the rally happen. Obviously, safety was our top priority at the Yas Marina Circuit and thanks to the efforts of the team, the rally was a huge success. We are looking forward to organising the Abu Dhabi Rally next year and for it to become a permanent fixture of the Middle East Rally Competition rounds.”
THE PENINSULA
