Mads Ostberg made his way to the front of the pack on Day 2 of Rally Sweden for Citroen Team Abu Dhabi late Friday night, finishing the second day in third overall.
Ostberg, of Norway, was joined in the top-10 by Abu Dhabi Racing teammate Kris Meeke of Great Britain in sixth. Sheikh Khalid Al Qassimi, chairman of Abu Dhabi Racing, ended the day in 18th.
Ostberg arrived 2.1 seconds behind fellow Norwegian Andreas Mikkelsen to finish fourth in the stage. Overall, he overtook Mikko Hirvonen and Ott Tanak after starting the stage in fifth.
“I’m starting to understand where we are losing time compared to the fastest drivers,” Ostberg said. “But it’s difficult to find those extra few seconds. I’m trying to change my driving style so I can close the gap. The goal is to keep it up and try and hold onto our position until the end.
His cumulative time through two days of racing is 1:49:30.6, 43 seconds off the lead pace set by Finland’s Jari-Matti Latvala. Mikkelsen is in second.
Meeke, at 1:51:18.8 is at the front of a pack chasing the rest of the top-5. He’s 1:22.5 behind Tanak and 2:31.2 off Latvala’s pace, maintaining a lead on seventh-placed Henning Solberg, another Norweigian, of 15.8 seconds.
Sheikh Khalid’s time of 1:58:41.0 has him in the middle of the pack, just 14.4 seconds behind 17th-placed Yuriy Protasov (Ukraine) and another 1.1 seconds behind 16th-placed Fredrik Ahlin (Sweden).
He has a comfortable 1:26.2 advantage over 19th-placed Lorenzo Bertelli (Italy).
“We were first on the road today. It was difficult to feel confident. I tried to push a bit more in some sections, but I almost went off,” he said. “I don’t want to take any more risks even though I know I can go faster. If we feel better tomorrow, then we’ll push a bit more.”
Rally Sweden is the second race on the World Rally Championship calendar. At Monte Carlo in January, Meeke led Team Abu Dhabi to a third-place finish behind Bryan Bouffier and winner Sebastien Ogier. Ostberg placed fifth in that race, putting Abu Dhabi second in the manufacturers’ standings behind Volkswagen Motorsport.
The final day of the rally will be ongoing Saturday. In the first stage of the day Ostberg finished third, behind Thierry Neuville of Germany by 1.9 seconds and Latvala by 2.6 seconds. Overall he remains in third, 18.2 seconds behind Mikkelsen for second and 55.1 seconds behind Latvala for first.
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
BUNDESLIGA FIXTURES
(All games 4-3pm kick UAE time) Bayern Munich v Augsburg, Borussia Dortmund v Bayer Leverkusen, Hoffenheim v Hertha Berlin, Wolfsburg v Mainz , Eintracht Frankfurt v Freiburg, Union Berlin v RB Leipzig, Cologne v Schalke , Werder Bremen v Borussia Monchengladbach, Stuttgart v Arminia Bielefeld
The Word for Woman is Wilderness
Abi Andrews, Serpent’s Tail
Meatless Days
Sara Suleri, with an introduction by Kamila Shamsie
Penguin
BMW%20M4%20Competition
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEngine%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E3.0%20twin-turbo%20inline%20six-cylinder%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETransmission%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20eight-speed%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPower%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E503hp%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETorque%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20600Nm%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20from%20Dh617%2C600%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EOn%20sale%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Now%0D%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The specs: 2018 Dodge Durango SRT
Price, base / as tested: Dh259,000
Engine: 6.4-litre V8
Power: 475hp @ 6,000rpm
Torque: 640Nm @ 4,300rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Fuel consumption, combined: 7.7L / 100km
21 Lessons for the 21st Century
Yuval Noah Harari, Jonathan Cape
SPEC%20SHEET%3A%20APPLE%20M3%20MACBOOK%20AIR%20(13%22)
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if you go
The flights
Emirates offer flights to Buenos Aires from Dubai, via Rio De Janeiro from around Dh6,300. emirates.com
Seeing the games
Tangol sell experiences across South America and generally have good access to tickets for most of the big teams in Buenos Aires: Boca Juniors, River Plate, and Independiente. Prices from Dh550 and include pick up and drop off from your hotel in the city. tangol.com
Staying there
Tangol will pick up tourists from any hotel in Buenos Aires, but after the intensity of the game, the Faena makes for tranquil, upmarket accommodation. Doubles from Dh1,110. faena.com
ABU%20DHABI'S%20KEY%20TOURISM%20GOALS%3A%20BY%20THE%20NUMBERS
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CHATGPT%20ENTERPRISE%20FEATURES
%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Enterprise-grade%20security%20and%20privacy%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Unlimited%20higher-speed%20GPT-4%20access%20with%20no%20caps%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Longer%20context%20windows%20for%20processing%20longer%20inputs%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Advanced%20data%20analysis%20capabilities%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Customisation%20options%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Shareable%20chat%20templates%20that%20companies%20can%20use%20to%20collaborate%20and%20build%20common%20workflows%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Analytics%20dashboard%20for%20usage%20insights%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Free%20credits%20to%20use%20OpenAI%20APIs%20to%20extend%20OpenAI%20into%20a%20fully-custom%20solution%20for%20enterprises%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Monster Hunter: World
Capcom
PlayStation 4, Xbox One
Company profile
Name: Tharb
Started: December 2016
Founder: Eisa Alsubousi
Based: Abu Dhabi
Sector: Luxury leather goods
Initial investment: Dh150,000 from personal savings
THE LOWDOWN
Photograph
Rating: 4/5
Produced by: Poetic License Motion Pictures; RSVP Movies
Director: Ritesh Batra
Cast: Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Sanya Malhotra, Farrukh Jaffar, Deepak Chauhan, Vijay Raaz
MATCH INFO
Newcastle United 1 (Carroll 82')
Leicester City 2 (Maddison 55', Tielemans 72')
Man of the match James Maddison (Leicester)
It Was Just an Accident
Director: Jafar Panahi
Stars: Vahid Mobasseri, Mariam Afshari, Ebrahim Azizi, Hadis Pakbaten, Majid Panahi, Mohamad Ali Elyasmehr
Rating: 4/5