Humaid Al Masaood, the Emirati driver, is in a buoyant mood heading into this weekend's Mid-Ohio Sports Car Challenge after third-place finishes in his first two American Le Mans Series races.
Masaood said he believes he and teammate Steve Kane are well suited to the road track at Lexington, Ohio, a 3.5km, 15-turn circuit that is recognised as one of the most competitive courses in the US."This track will suit us more than Mosport [at the most recent race in Canada] did," Al Masaood said. "To finish third in both races so far is a great achievement, but now ... we aim to improve again and target the championship leaders."
Despite competing in only two of the four races in the series to date, Al Masaood and Kane are tied for fourth in the points standings behind the leaders Chris Dyson and Guy Smith.
Al Masaood and Kane are contesting the final seven rounds of this year's nine-race series. "I think we showed [in Canada] that the pair of us has a lot of pace and we just have to refine a few things like any racing drivers and we will be there," Kane said.
"It is just a matter of getting some track time under our belts and racing experience and there is no reason we cannot go for a win."
At the Canada race two weeks ago, Masaood handed their Mazda Lola Coupe LMP1 category car to Kane on lap 57, and Kane kept the pressure on the top two cars the rest of the way. "I was always taught to keep on pushing to the very end of a race and to see what you get," Kane said.
