Al Sulaiti and Al Khelaifi grab Qatar Superstock 600 and Qatar Touring Car Championship poles again
Defending Qatar Superstock 600 champion and current leader in the standings, Qatar’s Saeed Al Sulaiti, grabbed the pole position of the round 2 at Lusail International Circuit.
Al Sulaiti was on top at the Free Practice 1 & 2 and managed to do the fastest lap at the Superpole, 2:04.024 and will start tomorrow in first place at the grid in front of Abdulla Al Qubaisi.
‘Today, from Free Practice 1, I feel really good with the bike and I was able to do a good lap times from the first lap and also in the Free Practice 2. In the Superpole, my lap time was very good but in the last three minutes, I went for the last lap and in the first sector I was even faster but unfortunately, I lost the front in corner 6, but the crash was small. I feel good with the bike for the race and ready for tomorrow as the pain in the toe due to last weekend crash decreased and I feel much better’ said Al Sulaiti.
Abdulla Al Qubaisi took the second position in the grid, clocking 2:04.736 seconds, his fastest personal lap time.
‘In the Free Practice, my timings were good but in the Free Practice 2, I had engine failure in corner 1 and thanks the mechanics get the bike ready for the Superpole. I managed to make the second-best lap timing and new personal record for me’ said Al Qubaisi.
Mishal Al Naimi and Nasser Al Malki will start in third and fourth place respectively tomorrow from the grid.
‘The bike compared to last round is better now. I think my bike is ready for the race, it is not good for lap time, but I think is ready for racing and win tomorrow’ said Al Naimi.
In the QSTK Trophy, the fastest rider was as last round, Qatar’s Jassim Al Thani with a lap time of 2:08.122. Kuwaiti riders Mohamed Al Zaidan and Ali Abdulhussain finished second and third in their category.
‘In this round I am again the fastest rider in the QSTK Trophy category and hopefully tomorrow I can do a good start because the front riders have better start than me. I always follow them behind and this time I will try to keep the best acceleration I can until the end’ Al Thani commented.
In the Qatar Touring Car Championship, the double winner of last round, Abdulla Al Khelaifi got again the pole position during the Qualifying session with a lap time of 2:23.037
Al Khelaifi was very satisfied with the results of the day as he did the best qualifying time of the championship. ‘I am very happy with today timings, it is the best qualifying I ever had, best qualifying of the category. Still there is some time in the car and I think that tomorrow I can ever go fester. The competition is getting stronger in each round so I have to be faster as Al Asisri managed to put more horse power in his car and I have to build a bigger gap if I want to stay away from him.
Newcomer driver, Ahmed Al Asiri will start second in the grid as he managed to clock the time during the Qualifying time at 2:25.373.
‘The car is a little bit better today, I wanted to be first but Abdulla was amazing today and he got away from all of us. I don’t think I can manage to get 1.5 seconds to beat him tomorrow but I will try my best. We found some problems in the car, some power missing and now I can use lower and higher gears whenever I want so now I can drive more comfortably, easier and we are more consistence’ said Al Asiri after the Qualifying.
Ibrahim Al Abdulghani, had some problems with his car in the opening round and didn’t manage to get a good result but this weekend, he finished in third position in the qualifying session with a time of 2:25.830.
‘Last weekend, the car wasn’t ready, I came in the last minute and I had to make a lot of adjustments. I didn’t drive the car for a while, plus there are a lot of new competitors very strong, specially Ahmed Al Asiri and the competition is tougher but it’s very fun. Today the car is better but still a lot to do that didn’t have chance to fix but we’ll see tomorrow’ said Ibrahim.
Tomorrow, QSTK Race 1 starts at 11:30 and Race 2 at 14:30. For QTCC, the first race is scheduled at 13:00 and the second race at 16:00.
Qatar Superstock 600 and Qatar Touring Car Championship are organized by Lusail Circuit Sports Club and Qatar Motor and Motorcycle Federation with Pirelli Qatar as sponsor.