Another perfect weekend for Al Khelaifi in the Qatar Touring Car Championship
For third time in a row this season, defending Qatar Touring Car champion, Qatar’s Abdulla Al Khelaifi, took another double win at Lusail International Circuit this weekend. Saadon Al Kuwari returns to the podium as he finished second and Ibrahim Al Abdulghani completed the top three.Al Khelaifi (HondaS2000) who started again on pole position in the first race, had a strong battle in the first race with Saadon Al Kuwari (ToyotaGT86) before clinching the victory with a gap of 21.004 seconds. The third place in the podium was taken by Ibrahim Al Abdulghani (HondaS2000).Hamad Al Sulaiti (ToyotaGT86) and Hamad Al Asam (Toyota Integra) finished fourth and fifth respectively.For Mohamad Al Khaiat, this weekend was not very good as he had some mechanical problems in his car and he finished 9th position in the first race and couldn’t start in the second race.In the second race, with the reverse grid, even Al Khelaifi started from the back of the grid and Al Kuwari with a technical problem, started from the pit lane, both of them finished again first and second respectively, but this time the gap between them was only 10.379.Al Khelaifi was very happy with his performance this weekend ‘I had a lot of fun in the first race. Some drivers are very close to me in their performance and you can’t relax so I pushed the car very hard and happy that the car survived until the end of the event. I had a tough battle with Saadon, and at the end we switched positions more than three times but finally I managed to finish in front’ he said.‘In the second race, Saadon had a technical issue and started from the pit so I didn’t pushed the car too much, managing the race but at the fourth lap, I saw him behind me in the rear mirror so I had to push really hard to keep the gap the same until the end of the race’ ended Al Khelaifi.Al Kuwari is back to the podium for first time this season ‘I am very happy to be again into the podium. In the first race, I lead the race from the second lap until the sixth lap when I did a mistake, Abdullah passed me and I couldn’t catch him as tyres were completely hot’ said Al Kuwari.‘In the second race, I had to start from the pit lane and it was very hard to pass everybody. It took me almost four laps to reach the front but when Abdulla saw me behind him, he pushed very hard and kept the gap Thanks to the organization for this championship, helping all the drivers who are doing it very well and hope to see a new generation of driver on the top’ ended Al KuwariFor Ibrahim Al Abdulghani, this was his first time in the podium in this championship ‘Overall was a great weekend, this is my second season in this championship but my first time that I am on the podium and two times in a weekend, so it is amazing. The car didn’t have any issue at all but there is still some room for improvement and hope that next rounds I can do it better’ stated Abdulghani.After the third round, Al Khelaifi is leading the championship with 96 points. Hamad Al Sulaiti is second with 52 points and Ghanim Al Maadheed is in third place with 47 points.Trophies were presented by Mr. Salem Al Mohannadi (QMMF Board Member), Mr.Mohamad Al Kubaisi, (QMMF Board Member) and Mr. Abdulrazak Al Kuwari (QMMF General Secretary)Fourth round of Qatar Touring Car Championship will be on 8th& 9thFebruary.