Abdulla al-Khelaifi celebrates with the trophy at Losail circuit.
In the first race, al-Khelaifi, who started from pole position, maintained his lead throughout to win comfortably ahead of rookie driver Ghanim al-Maadheed with a huge gap of 1.398 seconds. Hamad al-Sulaiti finished third, while Mohamed al-Khaiat and Hamad al-Asam came fourth and fifth respectively.
Ahmed al-Asiri had a problem with his tyres and didn’t finish the race. Al-Asiri tried to stay behind al-Khelaifi as much but when Abdulghani took the racing lane, he got stuck in the inside lane and went into the gravel.
In the second race, which started with the reverse grid, al-Khelaifi had to battle hard for victory. Starting from last position, al-Khelaifi had a tussle with al-Asiri but came out on top. The third place went to al-Khaiat, while al-Maadheed finished fourth.Al-Khelaifi leads the standings with 64 points. Al-Khaiat is second with 39 points, while Ahmed Al Asiri is third with 36 points. Ghanim al-Maadheed is fourth with 35 points.
“The first race was nice. I had a bit of difficulty with the wind but I had an exciting lap with al-Asiri. Unfortunately for him, he had an incident and left the track so I was secure from battling with him and from that point I was only controlling the race,” said al-Khelaifi.
‘Second race was much more exciting as I started from last position due to the reverse grid. As al-Asiri didn’t finish the first race, he started from the pole position and built a big gap. I managed to pass almost everyone easily except him. But after I passed him in the seventh lap and keep the lead until the end,” he added.
Newcomer al-Maadheed, who finished second in the first race, was pleased with his first podium. “This is my first time in the championship and although the car was not ready, to come second feels great. Hopefully we can prepare the car for the next round. In the second race I started second from the back so it was very difficult to get into front as some slow cars were blocking the way. Despite that I still set a new lap time record, so I am very happy,” said al-Maadheed.
“In the second race I had a good start, I thought that Abdulla will come eventually so I wanted to widen my gap but when he reached me, I pushed very hard and we battled for seven laps but at the end he passed me and won again’ commented al-Asiri.
Trophies were presented by QMMF president Abdulrahmam al-Mannai and LCSC Vice President and General Manager Khalid al-Remaihi. The next round of Qatar Touring Car Championship will be held on 25th and 26th January.