Superpole for Al Naimi and Al Khelaifi fastest in the new car class: QTCC M240
Due to rainy conditions, the second round of Qatar Superstock 600 and Qatar Touring Car Championship have been affected and the morning sessions have been cancelled.
In the Qatar Superstock 600 , the Free Practice 2 and the Superpole sessions were held with Mashel Al Naimi as the fastest rider in both sessions.
In the Superpole 2, Mashel Al Naimi with a lap time of 2:05.197 will start from the first place on the grid tomorrow. 'Today we have a difficult weather and I tried a different set up but I couldn’t do enough laps to test it, but I am happy with the pole position. I hope tomorrow the weather will be better and I can try the new set up in the warm up and ready for the race’ said Al Naimi.
The second position was for the Spanish rider Julian Simon with a lap time of 2:05.964. Simon, who is the 2009 125cc World Champion and now he is the coach of the MotoGP Rider Maverick Viñales, is joining the QSTK600 this weekend as a wild card. 'I am very happy to be here in Qatar and to have this opportunity to race in this amazing championship. It is great to be racing again, to have this feeling back and the most important for me is to enjoy and make this championship more competitive and the other riders to push harder’ mentioned Simon.
In the QSTK Trophy, the fastest rider was Jeremy Parola 'It was difficult to find the pace after the break and this weather, as we didn't ride too many laps and it was difficult to find the rhythm. I was improving my laptime but in turn 10 it was very wet and at the end I crashed so I am happy with the result’ said the Frenchman rider.
In the Qatar Touring Car Championship, there is a new class introduced starting from this second round, the QTCC M 240 Class, with a total of nine drivers at the moment and all of them driving the same car model, BMW M240. The QTCC class has been named QTCC 2K Class from now on.
The defendant Qatar Touring Car Champion, Abdulla Al Khelaifi was the fastest driver in the Qualifying Practice with a lap time of 2:16.484. Al Khelaifi, who started the season participating in the QTCC 2K class is now joining the newly class, QTCC M240. 'My original plan was to drive in both categories, in the QTCC and the new BMW class but I had many technical issues with my car in the previous round and no time to fix the car so the reasonable option was to race only in the QTCC M240 class. It is a new class so it is a challenge also for me, a new beginning and a better chance to get the championship although there are a well known drivers such as Roger Feghali from Lebanon that will do a very strong competition in this class’ said Al Khelaifi.
Hamad Al Sulaiti, was the second fastest driver, with a lap time 2:17.204 and also racing in the QTCC M240 class. ‘ I am very happy with my result today as this is my first time that I drive this car that is completely different from my previous car that was not a racing car and I hope tomorrow to get a podium in this class’.
In the QTCC 2K category, the best lap time was for Ghanim Al Maadheed with a Lotus Elise and a lap time of 2:23.563. ‘My car is still not 100% ready as the suspension is not working good and I hope to keep the same position for tomorrow and the target is to win both races. With the new class, we are enjoying it a lot, it is great to have a lot of drivers with very close timings, so this is very good for the championship’ stated Al Maadheed.