Al-Kuwari, al-Khelaifi share spoils in first round

Saadon al-Kuwari and Abdullah al-Khelaifi shared the spoils in theopening round of the Qatar Touring Car Championship, with both thedrivers winning a race each to set up an exciting season ahead.At the Losail International Circuit last night, veteran al-Kuwari beathis younger rival to finish first in the Race 1. But defending champional-Khelaifi had his revenge in the Race 2, as he outwitted hisexperienced rival. Both the drivers were in a Toyota GT86. In Race 1, al-Kuwari starting from second jumped into the lead aspole-sitter Ibrahim al-Abdulghani suffered an engine problem in the veryfirst lap and had to retire. Al-Kuwari crossed the line in 24 minutesand 43.786 secs, with al-Khelaifi 1.154secs behind.Al-Kuwari’s son Nasser al-Kuwari, making his maiden appearance at QTCC,missed out on the podium after a close battle with Adham Eldib, whopipped him to a third-place finish. It was the first podium finish ofhis career for Eldib, who would go on to his second podium later in thenight.In the 10-lap Race 2, drivers started in reverse grid. But the tusslewas between al-Kuwari and al-Khelaifi, who raced wheel-to-wheel beforethe latter cruised to victory.In the end, al-Khelaifi won with a resounding seven-second margin. Eldib in Honda EP3 was comfortably third again. “I am very happy. It was a very tough Race 1. Abdullah put me underpressure from the start to the finish. He is the QTCC champion, veryyoung and very fast driver. He was behind me all the time but I had touse all my experience to beat him in Race 1,” said al-Kuwari.Al-Khelaifi rued not being able to capitalise on a good start. “Saadonwas better than me in the start. I tried to catch him on the straightbut I couldn’t take the first position. There was an accident in themiddle of the race on the straight and I had a huge oversteer which costme a lot of time and he built the gap from that and I couldn’t catchhim,” said al-Khelaifi.For Eldib, it was a night he won’t forget for a long time. “I was thefirst podium of my career. It is a fantastic feeling. It was an amazingrace. I qualified fourth but I know that on the grid there were so manygreat drivers. I had a great race especially with Nasser al-Kuwari. Wekept on exchanging positions but I kept the pace and pushed hard tillthe end. I am very happy to get back-to-back podium finishes,” he said.The trophies were presented by QMMF President Abdulrahman al-Mannai,LCSC General Manager Khalid al-Remaihi and QMMF Secretary-GeneralAbdulrazak al-Kuwari.