Qatar’s Abdulla al-Qubaisi clinched the first pole position of his career for the opening round of the Qatar Superstock 600 at the Losail International Circuit. Al-Qubaisi dominated all the sessions yesterday with a best lap time of 2:04.100 seconds and will start from the front of the grid today.
The young Qatari rider was pleased with his first performance. “My plan for this season is to dominate all the sessions from the beginning. The bike is working perfectly and I hope tomorrow I will have the same feeling during the race and get the win,” said al-Qubaisi.
Mashel al-Naimi registered the second-best time at the Superpole, with a time of 2:04.701, while defending QSTK600 champion Saeed al-Sulaiti will start in third position after he timed 2:04.853 yesterday.
“The bike during the Superpole was perfect, but I had a problem with the front tyre after five laps. I have to find the perfect set up to save the tyres for the entire race. Hopefully tomorrow I can keep control of the tyres during all the laps,” commented al-Naimi. Newcomer Bulgarian rider Mihail Florov classified in fourth position.
In the QSTK Trophy, the fastest rider was the French rider Jeremy Parola, who is taking part in the championship for first time. Rayad al-Emadi and Kuwaiti rider Alexander Qabazard finished second and third respectively in the category.
At the Qatar Touring Car Championship, Qatar’s Saadon al-Kuwari clinched the first pole position of the season with a lap time 2:24.191. Al-Kuwari, driving a Toyota GT86, will start today first on the grid followed by Ibrahim al-Abdulghani and Ghanim al-Maadeed. Abdulghani, who is driving a Honda S2000, clocked 2:24.597 and al-Maadeed finished third with a lap time of 2:24.769 with a Lotus Elise.
The defending QTCC Champion and three-time winner Abdulla al-Khelaifi, although during the free practice put in a fastest lap of the day, he had a problem with his Honda S2000 car and chose to skip the qualifying session, preferring to check the car and start from the back of the grid. Today, QSTK Race 1 will start at 11:30am and Race 2 is at 2pm. For QTCC, the first race is scheduled at 1pm and the second race at 3:45pm.