Al Kuwari and Al Khelafi share victories in the opening round of QTCC

Saadon Al Kuwari won the first race of Qatar Touring Car Championship in an exciting battle with the defendant QTCC championship title, Abdullah Al Khelaifi.rnAl Kuwari started from the third place on the grid and he managed to take the lead at the first lap as the poleman, Ibrahim al Abdulghani had an engine problem in the first lap and had to abandoned.Al Kuwari finished the 10 laps-race with a total time of 24:43.786 and Al Khelaifi entered in second place 1.154 behind him.The third place was for Adham Eldib, who had a tought battle with Nasser Al Kuwari who finished fourth.‘I am very happy, a very thought race. Abdullah put me pressure from the start to the finish. He is the QTCC champion, very young and very fast driver. He was behind me all the time but with my experience only I beat him.’ said the winner of the race, Saadon.‘It was an exciting race but I had not a good start and Saadon was better than me in the start. I tried to catch him in the straight but I couldn’t take the first position. There was an accident in the middle of the race in the straight and I had a huge oversteer which costed me a lot of time and he built the gap from that and I couldn’t catch him’ said Al Khelaifi.It was the first podium in his career for Adham Eldib, who finished third ‘It is a fantastic feeling , it was an amazing unexpected race. I qualified fourth but I know that on the grid there were so many great drivers. I had a great race specially with Nasser Al Kuwari, we kept on exchanging position but kept the pace, pushing and I am very happy with my first podium in the first race.’ said Eldib.Nasser Al Kuwari had some problem with the alignment of the car and couldn’t fix it on time for the race but hopefully he can make it better for the next round.In the second race, with the reverse grid, the competition was more challenging. From the second lap, Abdullah Al Khelaifi took the lead and his strategy was to get as much gap as he could from Saadon Al Kuwari and he succeed. Al Khelaifi entered in first position in front of Saadon Al Kuwari 7.190.‘I tried to get away from Saadon and I put 3 or 4 cars between me and him and I got my pace and focus on the race. And I manage to get the same gap through the race. It was a really good race, I was afraid that Saadon catching me that I set the record of our class today, I can’t handle the pressure from him, that’s why I tried my best’ said Abdullah Saddon had a crash with Omran Karama in the first turns that damanaged a bit his car and he finished second.´I started form the last and Abdullah tried to run away from me. I was close to him, behind him but after some turns Omran was next to me and we had a touch, the aero was broken and the aerodynamic was affected. I tried my best, but this time Abdullah was flying, congratulation to him, he is a very good driver. First race he fight with him and I won, second race I fight with him and he won. Let’s see next round.’ Al Kuwari stated after the race.The third place was again for Adham El Dib. ‘Fantastic race I cannot express how happy I am, with the reverse grid the start was not easy at all, I took a very conservative strategy at the beginning, let the strong to fight at the beginning and I stayed at the back and just passed when I saw the opportunity and it happened perfectlyrnwell. I started to have a battle with Mansour Al Hajri and very happy to have 2 podiums in the opening round’ said El Dib.Trophies were presented by Mr. Abdulrahman Al Mannai, QMMF President, Mr. Khalid Al Remaihi, LCSC General Manager and Vice President and Mr. Abdulrazak Al Kuwari, QMMF Secretary General.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]