The Peninsula
Abdulla Al Qubaisi broke Saeed Al Sulaiti’s lap record with a time of 2:03.555 in Free Practice 2 of the fourth round of Qatar Superstock 600 (QSTK).
Al Sulaiti’s time was 2:04.024 and was done during the Superpole 2 of the second round of the season.
Yesterday, at the Losail International Circuit, Al Qubaisi tried hard during the Superpole 2, but Al Sulaiti topped the time sheets for the fourth time in a row this season with a time of 2:04.060, only 0.081 in front of Al Qubaisi.
“In the first two Free Practices, we were struggling a bit to find a good grip but at the same time I was really happy to see Abdulla Al Qubaisi clocking the record lap time, which is amazing,” said Al Sulaiti.
“For the Superpole, we modified the bike a bit and that gave me more confidence, but still it was tough to beat Abdulla. He was really in form today. In the last five minutes of the Superpole 2, we were able to squeeze it and finish in front of him by only 0.081,” he said.
“My expectation is that it is going to be a very difficult races specially with Abdulla as he is going to do his best to win the race. But I will show him that I will fight as well,” Al Sulaiti said.
Al Qubaisi was very happy with his performance yesterday and said that he is ready to fight for another double victory as he did in the last round.
“I am very happy to break the lap record and tomorrow I will push hard to win both races and reduce the gap in the standings. It will be hard to fight with Saeed but I will give the best of me,” Al Qubaisi said.
Mishal Al Naimi will start in the third place at today’s grid.
In the QSTK Trophy, the fastest rider was Jassim Al Thani, followed by Mohammad Al Zaidan and Ali Abdulhussain.
In the Qatar Touring Car Championship (QTCC), Saadon Al Kuwari (Toyota GT86) took his first pole position of the season with a lap time of 2:21.492 and he will start from the front row in front of Abdulla Al Khelaifi (Honda S2000) who did a lap time of 2:22.257.
In the last round, Saadon finished second in both races and he will try to take a double victory to reduce the gap in the standings today.
“Tomorrow’s races will be difficult as the timings are very close. I am very happy with today result. The car is performing very well, no issues and I will try tomorrow to take the victory in both races,” Saadon said.
The championship leader, Al Khelaifi, did only three laps at the Qualifying but that was enough for him to secure the second place in the grid.
“I did only few laps during the first few minutes of the session. In general, it was good, the track was much better than last round. I managed to drop my lap time but unfortunately it was not fast enough to secure the pole, as Saadon was faster. I am happy even I don’t get the first position in the timings and the strategy for tomorrow is just to stay calm and follow Saadon until he make a mistake and not be aggressive. I have to collect at least 20 points, so finishing second is enough and no reason to push really hard,” Al Khelaifi said.
Ibrahim Al Abdulghani (Honda S2000) did the third best lap time, 2:25.863.
Today, QSTK Race 1 starts at 11:30 and Race 2 at 14:30. For QTCC, the first race is scheduled to flag off at 13:00 and the second race at 16:00. The QTCC and QSTK are organised by Losail Circuit Sports Club and Qatar Motor and Motorcycle Federation with Pirelli Qatar as sponsor.