Al-Khelaifi, al-Khalaf share round five honours

The fifth round of the Qatar Touring Cars Championship proved to be another productive weekend for Abdullah al-Khelaifi. The championship leader won Race 1 and finished second in Race 2 to extend his advantage over Mansour al-Hajri to 21 points in the standings. In the first race, al-Khelaifi didn’t start from the front of the grid but he still managed to take the lead in the first lap and didn’t relinquish it till the chequered flag. Mahmoud al-Khalaf, who started on pole position, being the fastest driver in the free practice, finished in second place after a close battle with Saadon al-Kuwari.  Al-Kuwari started last in the grid but produced a strong charge through the field to put himself in second position by the fourth lap but then unfortunately his car suffered mechanical problems and he was overtaken by al-Khalaf.“It was a great race. I started second and managed to get a good launch to pass Mahmoud and from there on I pushed hard to create a gap and controlled the race till the end,” said al-Khelaifi after his victory in the first race. Al-Khalaf had to deal with brake problems which cost him positions during the initial part of the race. “I started on pole but was fourth in the middle of the race due to brake issues. I then pushed and was able to catch up to the leaders and was able to finish second,” he said. Al-Kuwari was happy with his third place after starting from the back of the grid. “To start from the last position in the grid was very hard for me as I had to work a lot to reach second position. I had some problem in the second gear and I lost the second position to Mahmoud but I am happy that finally I managed to finish third’ he said.In the second race, with the reverse grid, it was al-Khalaf who took the win. Al-Khelaifi finished second and al-Kuwari secured third again. Al-Khalaf was delighted with his first win in the championship. “First win in the championship! Very glad with the result and enjoyed the competition from all drivers. Abdulla put me under a lot of pressure and was closing the gap on the last lap but I blocked him and finished first,” he said. Al-Khelaifi was able to carve his way through the field but al-Khalaf proved to be an unsurmountable hurdle. “We started from the back due to the reverse grid layout and as usual it is much more challenging to try and overtake all the cars. There was a four-way battle for the lead that lasted seven laps of the race. I was able to pass all the cars but that of Mahmoud as I didn’t get a clean pass opportunity,” said the championship leader. The trophies were presented by QMMF President Abdulrahman al-Mannai and LCSC vice president and general manager, Khalid al-Remaihi.The sixth and last round of the championship will be on 19th and 20th May.