Doha: Pavel Nedobity clinched the pole position yesterday in the sixth round of Qatar Challenge at Losail International Circuit.
The Czech Lotus driver was very happy after the qualifying session as in the previous round he had problems with his car and couldn’t get any point.
“I am very happy that I am back in the track as I had some issues last round and finally all is sorted out as it seems. Quite surprisingly I managed to come in front of the two Honda with was definitely something I was not expecting but of course I am really happy. I have lots of hopes for the race tomorrow but one thing is one lap and the other is the race fighting with more powerful cars and that is going to be challenging,” Nedobity said.
Nedobity is third in the standings with 77 points.
Mark Holroyd in a Honda car took the second place in the qualifying.
“It was little bit of surprise, Pavel went a little bit quicker than me and there were three of us very close, for sure tomorrow there is going to be a really good fight,” Holroyd said after the qualifying session.
Peter De Vido registered the third best time in the last lap of the qualifying session.
“It is going to be very interesting on race day. It was a very good qualifying lap. In the last race I was very disappointed with my performance and the car, unfortunately my championship hopes were slipping away but fortunately with Quanto Bello Qatar Racing team, we sorted out the problems with the car on time and now it is handling fantastic and everything is coming nicely. Tomorrow it should be a very interesting race,” De Vido said after the session.
Meanwhile, Nasser Al Malki got the pole position in the sixth round of the Qatar SuperBike Championship at Losail International Circuit.
The BMW rider clocked the time in 2.02.047, with only a gap of 0.027 to the leader of the championship, Alex Cudlin who made 2.02.074.
“In the qualifying session it was really good. Before, in the free practice we tried to find a good tyre pressure as the temperature is very hot, the weather is not good. At the end, we found the good pressure and we changed it for the Qualifying session. My lap timing was very good in the last session and for tomorrow I start in pole and I hope to finish in first place and win both races’ Al Malki said
Cudlin clinched the second place on the grid.
The defending champion and leader of the championship expects a tought battle between him and Nasser.
“For the race, for sure that there will be a fight between me and Nasser as we are very close with the times. Unfortunately the qualifying session was not very good for me, when we changed the rear tyre, one of the sensor broke and everything was flashing on the dash for me to stop, so at the end I had to make a lap with this electrical problem and I missed the pole by a really small margin. I know for sure that if we didn’t had this problem I could take pole but anyway, it is a long race and let see what happen tomorrow in both races,” Cudlin said.
The third place in the starting grid will be taken by Mishal Al Naimi, who set a time of 2.02.615.
“I am happy with the lap time. When I started from free practice I felt good but I had some problems with the rear suspension, a little bit soft but in the free practice two, I fixed the problem a bit better, but finally in the qualifying I made the final adjustment and it is working perfect so I made a good lap time with used tires and hope tomorrow I can do good races’ Mishal said after the final session of the day.
Nina Prinz and Saeed Al Sulaiti finished in fourth and fifth place respectively.
Cudlin is leading the championship with 230 points and Nasser is second with 184 points. The third place is for Mishal with 159 points.
The Peninsula
