Abu Dhabi Citroen's Al Qassimi on track for points finish in Rally Portugal

The UAE's Sheikh Khalid Al Qassimi made a solid start to the Rally de Portugal yesterday as he pursued his first World Rally Championship points of the season.

After the first four special stages, Al Qassimi and British co-driver Scott Martin held 11th position in their Abu Dhabi Citroen Total, keeping their target of a top-10 finish well within reach over the next two days.

Prior to the fourth round of the 2013 WRC, Al Qassimi had said that his priority, particularly on the opening leg, would be to avoid mistakes in an event characterised by very fast, twisting, technical stages where a lapse in concentration can prove destructive.

That point was emphasised yesterday during the third special stage when the Norwegian Mads Ostberg, the rally leader at that point, rolled his Ford Fiesta and went out of the rally.

Al Qassimi, competing in only his second WRC event after a 15-month gap, is bidding to add to his eighth and ninth place finishes in Portugal in 2009 and 2010, and made a cautious start over the first loop of two stages, which he completed in 14th place.

But with the same two stages then being repeated, he slashed 23 seconds and then 18 seconds off his two earlier times to climb three places.

He said: "It's getting better. We have a few problems with the clutch, but we have to live with it for the rest of the day."

With four stages completed, France's championship leader Sebastien Ogier held a 2.4-second advantage over Spain's Dani Sordo in a Citroen Total Abu Dhabi DS3, with the Finn Jari-Matti Latvala third ahead of the other Abu Dhabi DS3, driven by Mikko Hirvonen.

In addition to their shared individual target of a rally win in Portugal, Sordo and Hirvonen are looking to extend their lead in the WRC manufacturers' championship for the Citroen Total Abu Dhabi team.

After the fourth stage, the drivers set off on the first leg of a 14-hour, 665km journey to Lisbon for tonight's 3.27km super special spectator stage, before turning around and heading back to where they started the trip for the overnight halt. The rally continues today with two loops of three special stages, with four more stages to follow tomorrow, including a 52.3km stage to be run twice, prior to the finish in the 30,000-capacity Algarve Stadium.

@SprtNationalUAE

While you're here

Anna Zacharias: UAE's first national brand has been unveiled

Kate Hazell: Meet the creatives starting a design revolution

Hani Asfour: What is the future of the office chair?

COMPANY%20PROFILE

%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EName%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EEjari%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ERiyadh%2C%20Saudi%20Arabia%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EYazeed%20Al%20Shamsi%2C%20Fahad%20Albedah%2C%20Mohammed%20Alkhelewy%20and%20Khalid%20Almunif%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EPropTech%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETotal%20funding%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E%241%20million%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESanabil%20500%20Mena%2C%20Hambro%20Perks'%20Oryx%20Fund%20and%20angel%20investors%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20employees%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E8%3C%2Fp%3E%0A

The biog

Age: 23

Occupation: Founder of the Studio, formerly an analyst at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi

Education: Bachelor of science in industrial engineering

Favourite hobby: playing the piano

Favourite quote: "There is a key to every door and a dawn to every dark night"

Family: Married and with a daughter

Low turnout

Two months before the first round on April 10, the appetite of voters for the election is low.

Mathieu Gallard, account manager with Ipsos, which conducted the most recent poll, said current forecasts suggested only two-thirds were "very likely" to vote in the first round, compared with a 78 per cent turnout in the 2017 presidential elections.

"It depends on how interesting the campaign is on their main concerns," he told The National. "Just now, it's hard to say who, between Macron and the candidates of the right, would be most affected by a low turnout."