Gulf Times
Soud al-Thani made it a hat-trick of wins at the Qatar Online Racing Championship on Thursday night. The Qatari rider dominated the qualifying stage of the virtual series as he won all the three races to top Group A.
Thursday’s 15-lap race was set at Malaysia’s Sepang International Circuit as the competitors battled it out on MotoGP 19 PS4. Al-Thani, however, was in a class of his own, as he stormed to victory after starting from pole position. He finished with a maximum 120 points and will be a hot favourite for the title in next week’s final round of three races. Top six riders from Group A and B made it to the final round.
Meanwhile, Saeed al-Sulaiti topped the Group B after winning the race on Thursday. The three-time QSTK champion could not take part in second race after encountering Internet issues. Al-Sulaiti was at first awarded zero points but after an appeal to stewards committee, he was given 26 points as he had finished qualifying session.
In Group A, Soud al-Thani was joined by Hade Ahmed, Jeremy Parola, Hamad al-Sahouti, Joshua Ilano and Khaled al-Thani for the final round. The top six from Group B were Saeed al-Sulaiti, Ali Ahmed, Khalid al-Maraghi, Abdulla al-Qubaisi, Mohamed al-Zaidan and Saad al-Harqan.
In total 21 riders have signed up for the championship, including four from Kuwait. The race format consists of qualifying for 15 minutes, followed by the race for 30 mins. The event is organised by the Qatar Motor and Motorcycle Federation for bike racing connoisseurs after the virtual series for cars received an overwhelming response.
Race RESULTS
GROUP A: 1. Soud al-Thani; 2. Hade Ahmed; 3. Hamad al-Sahouti; 4. Saoud al-Thani; 5. Joshua Ilano; 6. Jeremy Parola.
GROUP B: 1. Saeed al-Sulaiti; 2. Khalid al-Maraghi; Ali Ahmed (Kuwait); 4. Abdulla al-Qubaisi; 5. Jassim al-Thani; 6. Mohamed al-Zaidan (Kuwait)
Final STANDINGS (Top 6)
GROUP A:
1. Soud al-Thani 120;
2. Hade Ahmed 105;
3. Jeremy Parola 98;
4. Hamad al-Sahouti 92;
5. Joshua Ilano 92;
6. Khaled al-Thani 84.
GROUP B:
1. Saeed al-Sulaiti 106;
2. Ali Ahmed (Kuwait) 106;
3. Khalid al-Maraghi 100;
4. Abdulla al-Qubaisi 97;
Mohamed al-Zaidan (Kuwait) 96;
6. Saad al-Harqan 86.