Khalid Al Qassimi seals Dubai title

Sport360 staff 21:09 21/11/2015
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  • Sheikh Khalid Bin Faisal Al Qassimi celebrates his victory at the Dubai International Rally.

    Sheikh Khalid Bin Faisal Al Qassimi clinched his third Dubai International Rally after beating Qatari drivers Abdulaziz Al Kuwari and Khalid Al Suwaidi who bagged second and third place honours respectively.

    Mohamed Ben Sulayem, President of Automobile and Touring Club UAE (ATCUAE) and FIA Vice President, presented the trophies to the winners at the ceremonial finish at Meydan.

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    Driving their Citroen DS3 RRC, Al Qassimi and his co-driver Chris Patterson finished the 12 stage rally in 1 hour, 58 minutes and 41 seconds.

    Al Qassimi dedicated the victory to the UAE President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and extended his thanks to His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, for his continuous support.

    Al Qassimi’s first day lead of 1 minute 44 seconds was cut short by Al Kuwari in the second day’s stages, with the Qatari closing the gap to 57 seconds. However, the Abu Dhabi team leader held on until the very end to bag a well-deserved win.

    Al Qassimi said: “After leading the race on the first day, I decided to change my strategy to a more defensive one as I didn’t want to put unnecessary pressure on the car, and I was able to maintain the lead without any serious problems.”

    Speaking on the close competition and battle for the title, second place winner Al Kuwari added: “I was able to lead all the stages on day two, but the tire problem I faced yesterday affected the final result, as the time I lost made it hard to catch up with the leader.”

    The winner of the third place honours, Khalid Al Suwaidi said: “I wasn’t expecting to win third place as it has been dominated by Sheikh Abdulla Al Qassimi from the start of the rally, but the problems he faced with his steering wheel in the final stages gave me the opportunity to climb from fourth place and achieve the best results I have ever managed here in Dubai.”

    In group N, Lebanese racer Nassib Nassar successfully cruised to first place, while Sheikh Mohamed Bin Abdulla Al Qassimi won second place in his first Dubai International Rally outing ahead of Emirati Mansour Bin Jabr, who fought his way back to third place after he was forced to retire in the final stage of day one. 

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