The penultimate round of the Qatar Touring Car Championship held at the Losail International Circuit over the weekend witnessed thrilling action with a record 28 participants taking part. 
In the QTCC 2K Class, the Lotus Elise driver, Ghanim al-Maadheed, again won both races in his category and now has a lead of 19 points in the championship standings ahead of Ibrahim al-Abdulghani.
In the first race, al-Maadheed finished in first place with a total time of 25mins:07.938, followed by Mohamed al-Aseeri and Abdulaziz Abdulla. With the reverse grid in the second race, it took only one lap for al- Maadheed to overtake the front cars and take the lead in his category. Al-Maadheed won the second race in front of Hamad al-Asam and Abdulaziz Abdulla.
Al-Maadheed was very happy with his performance at the end of the round. “Two amazing and great races with no problems at all with the car. Hopefully the last round will be the same and I can take the title,” said al-Maadheed.
It was the first time this season that Abdulaziz Abdulla stepped into the podium. “It was a great weekend for me with great races, a lot of action and I enjoyed a lot. With the reverse grid in the second race it was more exciting and I am very happy to be back on the podium after long time,” stated Abdulaziz.
In the QTCC M240 Class, Hamad al-Sulaiti won the first race in a time of 22:43.617 followed by Saadon al-Kuwari and Abdulla al-Khelaifi.
In the second race of QTCC M240, with the reverse grid, Nasser al-Kuwari, who started from fourth position, led the race from the first lap and crossed the chequered flag in a time of 22:45.476. Abdulla al-Khelaifi and Hamad al-Sulaiti finished second and third respectively in the second race.
Al-Sulaiti, who is leading the QTCC M240 championship with a gap of 8 points in front of al-Khelaifi, was extremely happy with his performance.
“This weekend has been very positive for me. I took my first pole position, first and third place in the races and am leading the championship. The car is very good but we need to keep working until the last round as it will be very tight and competitive,” said al-Sulaiti.
Al-Khelaifi, second in the standings, had some issues with his car during the practice sessions and struggled to do a good lap timing in the qualifying but he was happy with his race results.
“The first race was very difficult, I was trying to catch Hamad but he was very fast and the pressure from Saadon was immense. But I managed to finished third. In the second race, it was more challenging. I started in a better position from the grid but unfortunately for me Nasser had a better start and took second position from the beginning of the race.
“From there on, Hamad , Nasser and me kept fighting throughout the race until Nasser built a bigger gap and by the end of the race I managed to take second place. Happy with the results so far. Staying on the podium for both races is a good sign and hope to finish the season with no major issues,” al-Khelaifi.The second race winner and third in the standings, Nasser, was very happy with his results. “In the first race I had an issue with my car and I want to thank my team and my dad for fixing the car for the second race.  In the second race, from the beginning I tried to push and pass the three cars in front of me in the grid. I overtook them on corner 1 and I started to fly so they don’t catch me. I kept the pace until the end,” said Nasser.
Trophies were presented by Abdulrahman al-Mannai (QMMF President), Abdulrazak al-Kuwari (QMMF General Secretary) and Khalid al-Remaihi (LCSC Vice President & General Manager).
The fifth and last round of Qatar Touring Car Championship will be held on March 13 and 14.