Defending QSTK Champion and current leader in the standings, Saeed Al
Sulati, grabbed the pole position for the Qatarsupertock 600 yesterday
at the Losail Circuit.
With strong winds hitting the track, al-Sulaiti managed to do the
fastest lap, 2:04.840secs and will start tomorrow in first place at the
grid in front of Mashel al-Naimi. “In this round I am staring with new
suspension on the bike. I want to thank QMMF and Losail Circuit for
organising a private testing day before the race weekend as it gave us a
lot of information with this new set up,” said al-Sulaiti. “For FP1
& FP2 we were focusing on riding with used tiers to set up the bike
with the new suspension. We made a good set up but not perfect. We still
need to work more with the set-up. But I am happy to set the fastest
time in tough track conditions,” added al-Sulaiti.
Mashel al-Nami took the second position in the grid, clocking 2:05.399
secs. “It was very difficult to make a good laptime today because of the
weather and also I didn’t find a good set up today with my bike,” he
said.
Nasser al-Malki and Fahad al-Sowaidi will start in third and fourth place, respectively tomorrow from the grid.
In the QSTK Trophy, the fastest rider was Essa al-Mutawa, with a lap
time of 2:11.854secs. At the third round of Qatar Touring Car
Championship, the pole position again went to Qatar’s Abdullah
al-Khelaifi with a time of 2:24.491secs during the qualifying session.
Al-Khelaifi was very satisfied with the results of the day “Today’s
practice session was ok. I found a good balance. In the qualifying
session I tried to drive in the light side of the track where the
asphalt was hot. I couldn’t get my timing up; the time was still slower
than in the practice. I waited for the sun go down so everything was
cooler and I managed to break my time. My plan tomorrow is to stay ahead
until the first corner and to get away from the 2 Honda cars because
then I can build a good gap” al-Khelaifi said.
Hamad al-Asam, in a Honda Civic car, will start today from the second
place after setting a lap time of 2:25.744secs. In third is Mansour
al-Hajri, who clocked 2:28.838secs.
Today, the QSTK Race 1 starts at 11:30pm and Race 2 at 2:30pm. The QTCC
first race is scheduled at 1pm and the second at 4pm. Qatar Superstock
600 and Qatar Touring Car Championship is organised by Losail Circuit
Sports Club and Qatar Motor and Motorcycle Federation.
Saeed al-Sulaiti in action.