Al Khelaifi: Another double victory and another QTCC Title
For fourth time in a row, Abdulla Al Khelaifi has been crowned Qatar Touring Car Champion with still one more round to go.Even Al Khelaifi had no pressure this weekend, he had to secure only 20 points to get the title, the Honda S2000 driver took the victory in both races.In the first race, Saadon Al Kuwari took the lead and battled with Al Khelafii during the first four laps, but then Al Kuwari had a problem with his Honda Civic and abandoned the race. From that moment, Al Khelaifi just took it easy until the checkered flag.Mohamad Al Khaiat (Toyota GT86) finished second, crossing the line 6.970 behind Al Khelafi and in front of Ahmed Al Asiri (Honda Civic) who came third.In the second race, Ibrahim Al Abdulghani (Honda S2000) lead the race until the seventh lap, when the unstoppable Al Khelaifi , who started from the back due to the reverse grid, overtook him and won again the race by 6.577 ahead of Al Abddulghani. Mohamad Al Khaiat finished in third place.Al Khelaifi was extremely happy to get another title before the last round of the championship ‘For this round, I came with the plan to collect just 20 points. In the first race, I changed something in the car to be as fast as Saadon, and I managed to follow him until he had a mechanical problem and retired. So, first race was easy, since I had only Saadon until he was out’ said Al Khelaifi.‘Second race was better and it was more fun. I went to the race with no pressure and I enjoyed with all the competitors. I stayed calm with the guys battling in front of me and took them one by one as soon as I had a safe gap. By lap seven, I overtook Ibrahim Al Abdulghani, who was a really good competitor and took another victory. I would like to thank Qatar Scientific Club for providing me their facilities to work on my car and to Qatar Islamic Insurance for sponsoring me this round and the next one ‘ended Al Khelaifi.Al Khaiat was happy to step onto the podium two times in the same round ‘This is my first time that I am in the podium in both races and it is great. I have been suffering some problems with the car but now the car is much better. I am looking forward the last round to get good results to fight for the second place in the championship’ said Al Khaiat.Al Abdulghani even he couldn’t repeat his good results from last weekend, with two podiums, was in general happy with his performance ‘I was hoping for a better result in this round and step onto the podium twice, but overall, I am satisfied. I was close to finished third in the first race but I had an issue in the car at the end of the race. Luckily, I came back in the second race, with a second place, so hopefully I can recover the lost points in the final round’ stated Al Abdulghani.With the title already taken by Al Khelaifi, the next round will decide the runner up of the championship between Mohamad Al Khaiat (67 points), Hamad Al Sulaiti (65 points) and Ghanim Al Maadheed (63 points).Trophies were presented by Mr. Khalid Al Remaihi (LCSC Vice President and General Manager) and Mr. Juan Baquero (CEO of LCSC).The fifth and final round of Qatar Touring Car Championship will be on the 29thand 30thMarch 2019